What does it mean to become a lawyer across languages, borders, and legal traditions? That question has shaped my thinking over the past two years as I’ve immersed myself in legal philosophy, U.S. legal institutions, and the social role of law—first as a student, and now as the host of a new interview series that explores how legal professionals navigate the space between civil and common law systems.
Bridging Barriers: Conversations Across Legal Cultures is an oral history series presented by Emails to a Young Lawyer. It follows the journeys of non-native English-speaking legal professionals who began their education in civil law countries and later pursued common law degrees. While many of our guests now practice law across multiple jurisdictions, others contribute as scholars, educators, and cultural interpreters. Their stories reflect both the challenges and the agency involved in becoming a global lawyer—especially for those preparing to make that leap themselves.
To design these conversations, I drew on foundational works in comparative legal studies and law-and-society research, including Conducting Law and Society Research (Halliday, Terence C., and Lucien Karpik, eds. Conducting Law and Society Research: Reflections on Methods and Practices. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009) and Law in Many Societies (Friedman, Lawrence M., Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo, Bryant Garth, and Terence C. Halliday, eds. Law in Many Societies: A Reader. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011). These texts helped me move beyond structured interview questions and toward meaningful, cross-contextual dialogue. Each conversation is shaped not just by the professional milestones of our guests, but also by the internal negotiations they faced along the way—how they reconciled ideals with reality and found purpose in that process.
As a rising junior at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a growing interest in international law, I see this series as both a research project and a roadmap in progress. Through it, I hope to illuminate the lived experiences behind cross-border legal careers and offer insights to others preparing to enter the global legal arena.
