Help me choose a practice area Forum

[Anonymous User]

Need some help with this.

I'm thankful to have a choice of summer offers. However, the choice basically requires me to choose right now between transactional or litigation. Basically, I dont know what I want.

Please help me choose.

[NewLobo]

Need some help with this.

I'm thankful to have a choice of summer offers. However, the choice basically requires me to choose right now between transactional or litigation. Basically, I dont know what I want.

Please help me choose.

And you expect others to know?

[Anonymous User]

And you expect others to know?

No. I thought maybe some discussion about the different practice areas would help me out.

-OP

[Blueridge]

Is it any more specific than lit vs. corp?

Can you share any information about what you find interesting/what you dislike? It's an incredibly vague and broad topic that you're asking right now.

[3ThrowAway99]

Lol. WTF is this thread. My best guess is subtle brag.

[Julio_El_Chavo]

*is smart enough to get top grades at a top school*

*feigns having trouble figuring out how to choose a practice area even though most 3rd graders could choose between lit and corp without the help of a career adviser*

*fails at trying to subtly brag*

[Anonymous User]

Lol this is not at all a humblebrag. I have to choose between 2 firms, one of which is strong in litigation and the other which is strong in transactional. They don't have big summer class sizes and therefore don't want to name them. I have no idea which one to choose. I don't know what area I want to practice right now and do not really know what transactional work entails or what type of personality is better suited for it. Therefore, I am asking for some help.

-OP

[piccolittle]

Lol this is not at all a humblebrag. I have to choose between 2 firms, one of which is strong in litigation and the other which is strong in transactional. They don't have big summer class sizes and therefore don't want to name them. I have no idea which one to choose. I don't know what area I want to practice right now and do not really know what transactional work entails or what type of personality is better suited for it. Therefore, I am asking for some help.

-OP

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=172738

Etc.... anyway, at the end of the day are you looking forward to the prospect of spending hours doing research and writing and ultimately arguing in court, or do you want to read for detail and strategize for businesses? Some research might help you.

[3ThrowAway99]

Lol. WTF is this thread. My best guess is subtle brag.

My bad. The comment was unneeded and likely made in time of frustration. My apologies.

Sorry to revive a decade old thread. Trying to clean up account and some old comments. No way

[Whatislaw]

Jests and sarcasms aside, if you genuinely are stumped, feel free to message me. Short story is you want to consider nature of work between trans and lit and long-term career goals (including exit options) if you see yourself going down a different path many years later.

[Anonymous User]

Jests and sarcasms aside, if you genuinely are stumped, feel free to message me. Short story is you want to consider nature of work between trans and lit and long-term career goals (including exit options) if you see yourself going down a different path many years later.

This is what I was wondering, too. Assuming I don’t care about predictability of hours or exit ops, could you share the nature of work btw lit and corp? I heard corporate work is boring and lit is a bit more interesting especially as a junior, but could anyone please share more details?

[Whatislaw]

This is what I was wondering, too. Assuming I don’t care about predictability of hours or exit ops, could you share the nature of work btw lit and corp? I heard corporate work is boring and lit is a bit more interesting especially as a junior, but could anyone please share more details?

I can't personally speak to corporate work as I'm in lit, but my understanding from what my friends tell me is the first few years are filled with a lot of document review and due diligence type work and only later on in your career do you begin to engage in "deal making" so to speak. Hopefully others can elaborate on what life actually looks like in corp.

For lit, each practice area will vary a little bit and the size of your firm. At my firm, I get a lot of hands-on experience in fact investigation (think receiving a case file and coming up with a case theory, interviewing your clients, witnesses, document review, etc.), exposure analysis, doing legal research necessary for your case analysis, drafting written discovery, preparing deposition outlines for depositions (i.e., drafting deposition questions), negotiating settlements (think smaller less risky cases first then grows as your seniority and experience grows), drafting settlement agreements, drafting mediation briefs, attending mediation, attend hearings (again, think small tasks at first like CMC, basic motions, and then later on dispositive motions and such), and on the rare instance a case goes to trial, then prepare for trial (naturally the 1st and 2nd chair goes to lawyers with real trial experience so most attorneys just help in the lead up. However, lit does not lend itself to a very predictable schedule sometimes. But if you manage your cases well, you can lead a fairly predictable work schedule. A fair bit of opportunity to travel as well sometimes.

[Sackboy]

This is what I was wondering, too. Assuming I don’t care about predictability of hours or exit ops, could you share the nature of work btw lit and corp? I heard corporate work is boring and lit is a bit more interesting especially as a junior, but could anyone please share more details?

I can't personally speak to corporate work as I'm in lit, but my understanding from what my friends tell me is the first few years are filled with a lot of document review and due diligence type work and only later on in your career do you begin to engage in "deal making" so to speak. Hopefully others can elaborate on what life actually looks like in corp.

This is only true of general corporate work. M&A will have you doing a lot of due diligence and very little substantive law or "deal making" early on. More specialized practices get you a lot more substantive law early on with less due diligence. For many specialized practices, you'll never become a "deal maker," but you might become an important "senior advisor" to your client over its life.