International lawyer
| Highest | $14,050 / mo · Switzerland |
|---|---|
| Experience | 5+ yrs |
| Degree | Required |
| First paycheck | 3 years LLB + SQE + 2 years QWE |
Pay in the destination countries
Monthly, in US dollars. Each country is an Imora admission package — open one for that route's fees, language requirement and deadline.
| Country | Monthly |
|---|---|
| SwitzerlandIELTS 6.5 · CHF 0.9–8k | $14,050max |
| United StatesTOEFL 80–100 · $10–70k | $13,000 |
| Hong KongIELTS 6.0–6.5 · HK–200k | $11,450 |
| SingaporeIELTS 6.5 · SGD 18–35k | $11,450 |
| United KingdomIELTS 6.0–7.0 · £11–38k | $11,450 |
| NorwayIELTS 6.0–6.5 · NOK 130–260k | $10,650 |
What does the day look like?
Your day is mostly documents, research, and meetings. At firms like Clifford Chance and Freshfields, associates draft and review pleadings, memorials, and witness statements; research treaties, arbitration rules (ICC, ICSID, UNCITRAL, LCIA), and conflict-of-laws issues; take client calls and join strategy meetings; review documents on e-discovery platforms like Relativity; and coordinate experts and local counsel across jurisdictions.
Roughly 50–65% of the day goes to cross-border strategy and drafting, 20–30% to research and mark-ups, and only 5–15% to hearings and oral advocacy — often zero in junior years. The rest is internal training, business development, and admin. You work in Microsoft Word/Outlook, document-management systems such as iManage or NetDocuments, and time-recording tools. Elite firms report 50–70+ hours a week; it is not shift work, but you stay on call for urgent injunctions or enforcement deadlines.
Where does this lead?
Next step up
People arrive from
What do you make of this job?