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So I am feeling a little panicked because I didn't know what I wanted to do as a 2L, joined a v5 and now am realizing I simply don't want to do the work that the firm does (mostly public company corporate work, banking etc.) nor am I interested in the exit options associates from my firm typically have (again, mostly banks).


I would prefer to be doing venture capital or soft-IP work that would eventually allow me to exit into a tech company or something similar.


How difficult is it for me to switch firms/practice groups and what should I be focusing my efforts on? I have only just started at my firm.

Lateraling into a new practice area isn't really all that hard the first few years. Try to do more general corporate work and get experience in particular in both M&A and capital markets/securities. Emerging companies work isn't much different from your standard biglaw corporate work, just for smaller clients, and firms like Gunderson take a lot of laterals because they don't have the capacity to start big first-year classes. That said, soft IP is not easy to get into even for people who target it in 2L hiring, so that particular door may be mostly shut unless your firm allows you to dabble in soft IP as a corporate associate (some do).

Thank you, that is helpful and reassuring.

When you say first few years, you mean 1-2 years? I would expect specialization barriers start to kick in after that.