Date of Award

8-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Laws (LLM)

Abstract

This work analyzes a distinctive characteristic of the globalizing Brazilian legal profession. Namely, intellectual property (IP) lawyers who once were leaders in opening the Brazilian economy and were key players in cross-border transactions are now losing ground to their peers with an expertise in international trade. The thesis of this article is that the manner in which Brazilian lawyers are being educated is in shambles. Generally speaking, Brazilian legal education has, overall, become degraded and provincial. Yet, Brazilian international trade lawyers, unlike Brazilian IP-lawyers, have overcome their deficient legal training by seeking legal education abroad. By traveling overseas, especially to the United States, international trade lawyers are exposed to an education and a set of best practices that stress not just domestic, Brazilian law, but laws from different jurisdictions. That international trade lawyers in Brazil are now ‘global lawyers,’ enables them to deal more effectively with their country’s expanding economy, and it supports the argument that globalization matters for both today’s law students and the legal profession.

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