Senior Partner Ira Blumenthal recently had the privilege of speaking at an open house event at his alma mater, Georgetown University Law Center, in Washington D.C. A proud alum of the Top-14 law school, Ira has actively supported the university’s recruitment activities in Thailand and sponsored its summer internship program at Blumenthal Richter & Sumet. He was delighted to resume his first in-person speaking engagement on campus since the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the session organized by Georgetown International Law Society and Georgetown Law’s Office of Career Strategy, Ira shared his perspectives and journey on how he built his practice in Thailand supporting foreign companies in investing in the country, when it was opening its doors to foreign interests in the 1990s. As a recent graduate from Georgetown Law, he worked as the only foreign lawyer in a local Thai law firm before founding Blumenthal Richter & Sumet with his American, German and Thai partners.

Ira also touched upon the skills that international practice lawyers must bring to clients, including serving as their thought collaborators and ensuring that legal advice is commercially sound as they serve as clients’ main interface in a country with which the clients may not be intimately familiar.

We express our gratitude to our friends at Georgetown Law for their assistance in organizing this event and look forward to more joint efforts to further the field of international law.