comment dit-on "dream job" en francais?
June 1, 2011 9:28 AM   Subscribe

How to find a job in the legal/tax field in France? U.S. qualified lawyer needs to move.

My wife is being recruited by a French company for what would be a fantastic job for her. I have a good job here (on the US east coast) but I would be willing to follow her if I can find a good job in France. (Of course, I would be willing to follow her with a not so great job, too :) )

Thing is, I don't know where to start. I am a U.S. qualified lawyer with 4 years experience in U.S. tax, but I do work with multinational clients. I speak French nearly fluently, but have never worked with French law. Here I would just call a recruiter, but I am a little lost on how the French market works. I am too junior for the "executive recruitment" market, but I don't want to start all over -- I do have valuable experience that I would like to leverage.

What kinds of job should I be looking for? Where would I find them? Are there any recruiters that have special experience with tax? Do you know of recruiters that have especially good reputations in finding placements for American expats? I am comfortable enough in French that I could work happily for a French or American company.

While we're here, what else should I know about the French job market or the French job hunt process?

Thanks!
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Have you asked the company what assistance they can provide?
posted by rr at 10:45 AM on June 1, 2011


I'd actually look at US law firms with offices in Paris. French companies pay US taxes, so they need US lawyers, but the time difference and distance can be a pain.
posted by valkyryn at 10:57 AM on June 1, 2011


Seconding the U.S. firms with Paris branches, or in-house positions with U.S. companies. Given the differences between your common law degree and their civil law code, I'd expect that there's no transferrability for you as a lawyer outside of those scenarios.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:45 AM on June 1, 2011


Don't overlook big British firms with big offices in Paris such as Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and the like. Much of their business is transatlantic and as a common law lawyer you'd be a familiar beast to them. Lots of transactional stuff in particular is location agnostic as much of the choice of law is New York or London.
posted by dmt at 12:00 PM on June 1, 2011


Thirding U.S. firms with Paris branches - I know several tax law specialists who have worked at Davis Polk & Wardwell's Paris office, for example.
posted by naoko at 12:06 AM on June 3, 2011


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