If you plan to become an international law attorney, you need to spend time developing your knowledge of current events and challenge your current way of thinking about law topics.
Traveling, developing friendships with people from other countries, and reading books, articles and blogs are some of the best ways to do that. But, travel can be quite expensive. The cost of books can add up too, and although you might have the one friend from Brazil or France, they represent a small portion of the globe.
The cheapest and easiest way to build your international law acumen is to dive into the web for articles and blogs on international legal topics. If the option is available, subscribe to their feed. You may have the option to receive email updates or subscribe via RSS feed, which puts all your subscriptions in one place instead of having to check every blog for an update every day. You can even set parameters if you only want updates on specific topics.
For more details on how to use RSS, click here.
What makes blogs such great learning tool is they are usually interactive, so you can respond with your opinion using all that legal jargon you learned in law school. Commenting and engaging in written discussions can help develop your writing and persuasive skills. To give you a starting point, here are some of the best international legal blogs to boost your international law IQ.
This is a great site for anyone who doesn’t know what blog might be the best fit for them. It consolidates about 100+ blogs into one website, which you can review based on original blog site, recent posting, popularity, author, or category. Read broad overviews of international legal topics, and discover blogs that cover specific areas like international environmental law, international criminal law or human rights. It even has a list of public organizations and links to their websites, which may be useful for papers and research.
Opinio Juris is Latin for Legal Opinion and that exactly describes this blog. This collection of posts by international law professors encourages readers to join the discussion with their legal opinions about numerous topic. It also has what it calls a blogroll, which is a list of other blogs you may be interested in.
The Law Professor Blogs Network is just that— blogs assembled together by law professors from around the world about different specified topics. For those interested in international law topics, the international law blog, the comparative law blog, and the immigration blog would be of most relevance, but don’t be afraid to sign up for any additional feeds that strike your fancy!
This site is dedicated to private international law and features blogs written not only by professors, but also corporate attorneys from all over the world. Use the search bar to narrow down the list to a number of particular topics.
The American Society of International Law is a membership organization. The website lists numerous things from job boards to books recently written by members to ... you guessed it, blogs! The content covers a broad range of topics: environmental, health science, technology, and human rights, international criminal law, and international economic law, and international organizations and governance. It also deals with law of armed conflict and international security, currently a major topic. Finally, there is information concerning transnational litigation arbitration and dispute resolution, which is critical for those interested in those processes.
EJILTalk is the blog extension of the European Journal of International Law, and lists a total of 135 different blog topics and categories. Learn more about European Law and how international law affects and applies to that particular continent. If you prefer to watch or listen, you can also access EJIL Live which lists video blogs (known as vlogs) and podcasts about international law topics with international law professionals.
You don’t have to spend hours reading. Read during your commute (as long as you aren’t driving), while you’re eating breakfast or lunch, or even during a bathroom break if that is the only time you have! Just giving 10-20 minutes a day to read something about international law can boost your knowledge of the international legal world. All this knowledge and practice could one day help impress the right person, get you a job or win you the case. I encourage you to make the investment.