Learn about how much your firm values its foreign offices and the lawyers who work in them, she advises. Billable hour expectations vary greatly. Isabel Franco, a former Brazilian national who practices in New York and Sao Paulo, points out that the working style is much more intense in the United States. In Sao Paulo, billing 150 hours a month is perfectly acceptable, she says. In contrast, she estimates that billables are expected to reach at least 200 hours per month in New York.
Cultural differences can also favor women overseas, especially when it comes to lifestyle issues.
Other lawyers, like Franco, point to more humane work schedules abroad. Some career hurdles for a woman lawyer abroad have nothing to do with her job-at least on the surface. When Clydia Cuykendall left the Hague to work in-house at Aramco's main office in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, she found that being a single woman affected her ability to get a Saudi work visa. In order to enter the country, she needed a Mahram-a male protector, usually a relative to sponsor her. Aramco became her Mahram.