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I am looking for opinions/perspectives regarding the difference between litigation and transactional practice. I have a rough understanding of the difference between the two broad fields, but I want to know more about what kinds of jobs these practices lead to down the road and whether they affect chances of making partner or of one day becoming a judge.

I have an SA at one of the big firms in a secondary market, and am trying to figure out what practice areas to pursue.

I would imagine that transactional work is better for going in house later on, but does business litigation prepare you for that role as well? Is litigation better for moving over to a state attorney general's office after a few years or maybe a USAO/other government work?

Thanks for your help. I did a search, but surprisingly didn't find anything relevant.

Search harder. This has been answered many, many times.

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rad lulz wrote:For judge -> lit, but it's nothing to plan on.

2/3 of in-house openings are transactional, about 1/3 are lit. Corps. need lit people to coordinate w outside counsel, handle discovery and document retention, etc.

Don't do transactional if you want to do state AG. They don't do transactional work. Neither does the USAO. Or any govt. agency or org. I can think of.

Caveat being tax, antitrust, and securities which tend to be hybrids and have government enforcement offices.

Edit: Double caveat being that working in the government in those areas can be very difficult at the federal level and hiring for them is done more and more through entry-level hires without the chance to lateral in later. (I imagine state tax enforcement would be somewhat easier.)

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate the help.

In terms of transferring from a firm to in house, does it matter what transactional field you work in at a firm? Are there any standard practice areas that tend to be narrow and have limited openings? I don't really know what it would be like to work in M&A or antitrust or securities, so my only preference between them at this point would be how they affect my chances of getting an offer/exit options.

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rad lulz wrote:

Brassica7 wrote:Thanks for the replies. I appreciate the help.

In terms of transferring from a firm to in house, does it matter what transactional field you work in at a firm? Are there any standard practice areas that tend to be narrow and have limited openings? I don't really know what it would be like to work in M&A or antitrust or securities, so my only preference between them at this point would be how they affect my chances of getting an offer/exit options.

How about, I dunno, you do something you enjoy.

I hope I will. But at this point, I do not really know what I will enjoy, and I am not sure how to find out. Hopefully this summer will help. My thinking is, if I have no idea whether I would enjoy antitrust or M&A more, I might as well be practical.