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Can medical malpractice be part of employment law? Can I lateral to a labor and employment firm after working for a professional liability defense firm, or is it too different and TTT?

Anon because I'm at a L&E firm. It's possible. A lot of people in the specialty firms are laterals. Most come from corporate litigation but from med mal you'd be in a good place to do OSHA litigation. Start working your network.

I know someone who did med mal for a few years and lateralled to a mid-sized labor and employment firm. My understanding is that med mal is pretty terrible.

thanks guys. right now i have an offer from a mid-sized firm that does professional liability (website has labor and employment and it is ranked on u.s. news as tier 3 but i don't know how much exposure i'd get, if any). i'm wondering if i should just take it or not. some attorneys have said that once you get into med mal, personal injury, id, you'll get pigeonholed. i certainly don't want to be miserable practicing med mal for life. i don't know how likely lateraling is. however, i'm thinking the litigation skills i learn can transfer right? and i can just overemphasize the little l&e experience i do get.

I know several folks at med mal firms. You shouldn't expect L&E work to be all that different. It is all glorified insurance defense.

You will get good litigation experience doing med mal defense. Not sure you will get to go to L&E, but I am not sure why you think that is some step up. It is not like defending Wal-Mart in an age discrimination suit for firing the $8/hour greeter is going to be much better or more interesting. L&E firms (the big ones) are beholden to the insurance folks as well, so it is also glorified insurance defense.

I think it really depends on if you have any other offers. I think it is a great place to learn litigation skills, and if you are interested in that, you should totally do it, but is not a good place to try to lateral.