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Hi All,

In a bit of a pickle here. I joined a V20 firm's corporate practice recently and kinda hate it. I feel extremely fortunate to have ended up at my firm as a lateral first-year associate, but I like neither the substance of my work nor the people I work with. I'm hoping I can transfer to a different corporate practice area eventually within my firm, but I really don't have a good handle on how to go about doing this. This is probably a firm-specific inquiry to a large extent, but there's really no one at my firm with whom I feel comfortable raising this. All I know is that switches are possible.

If anyone has experience with this and can offer some advice, I'd be extremely grateful. Browsing past posts, I get the impression that the earlier one tries to transfer, the better. On the other hand, I've been with the firm for a very short time (less than 5 months), and I don't want to come off as though I haven't given my group the ole college try. A further consideration is that my sanity would appreciate me transferring sooner than later.

Talk to the professional development coordinator at your firm. This is not an uncommon occurrence at my firm (NYC V100). Every year for the last three years a first year associate has switched practice groups. Last year somebody switched from corporate to litigation and this year someone is switching within corporate. I don't think it hurts to ask.

OP here. I was actually thinking about whether I should speak with the professional development coordinator, so that's very helpful. Do you by chance have a sense of how soon the first-years began inquiring about the switch?

Many thanks for the help.

The people that I knew began inquiring around 6-8 months in. I don't think there is any hard and fast rule. You can feel free to PM me, OP. Best of luck.

Anonymous User wrote: Do you by chance have a sense of how soon the first-years began inquiring about the switch?

Generally, the earlier the better. If you wait too long it becomes more difficult and comes with a drop in class year. Associates are generally fungible early on.

Anecdotally, a buddy of mine went from ip lit to tech trans during his second year. He started looking 6 months into his first year.