Want to change practice group Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey everybody,

First of all, sorry if theres a thread that asks my question already, I did a couple searches and couldn't find one exactly.

Here's my story. Incoming first year associate. Lower T-13, very good grades, LR, going to a non-NY, non-DC city in a non-UBE state. Going to a V-100 firm, I could have done better (probably V-10 or whatever) if I'd chased NY or DC, but this was my home market. Anyway, found out this week that I'm getting the opposite of Lit/corp from what I wanted.

If I was going to New York or DC and I found this out, I feel I'd have a lot more options. But the city I'm going to I don't believe the legal market is big enough for me to leverage my resume. I haven't talked to my firm about my feelings yet, because I'm still kinda trying to process it and decide what my options realistically are.

Is this something that anyone has dealt with before? Should I tell my firm something like "I'm excited to get to work this fall, but I really was hoping for lit/corp instead of corp/lit, is there any way that we could change my practice group?" I don't want to burn any bridges or seem selfish and entitled right off the bat, but I'm pretty bummed about this. There just aren't a lot of options in my city.

Any advice?

[Anonymous User]

So you are being assigned to a different department than you wanted? I would not keep quiet about that as your entire career will be impacted by what department you work in and it becomes extremely difficult to change once you begin practicing. This isn’t the same as being assigned to say capital markets when you wanted to be in corporate finance. I wouldn’t just cross my fingers and hope it works out.

[Anonymous User]

So you are being assigned to a different department than you wanted? I would not keep quiet about that as your entire career will be impacted by what department you work in and it becomes extremely difficult to change once you begin practicing. This isn’t the same as being assigned to say capital markets when you wanted to be in corporate finance. I wouldn’t just cross my fingers and hope it works out.

Yeah, second this, I would tell them immediately that this wasn't what you were led to believe you would be doing, ask if there's been a mistake, etc. If your market is smaller, works both ways -- yes, you have fewer options, but they also would find it more difficult to replace you.

[Anonymous User]

I think you're right to be worried. The choice of transactional versus lit is a pretty big one, with a big impact on your career. Not to mention it sucks to practice an area of law that you have little interest in. I mean, practicing law that you ARE interested in can often be miserable, practicing law that you don't give a crap about can be godawful.

I would express your displeasure to recruitment or whoever it is that's coordinating your on-boarding, but I would be very careful about how you express it. To be candid, you're not in a strong negotiating position. It's possible but very difficult (on a number of levels) to switch firms at the juncture you're at. You might express your displeasure and they might not care or they might have a genuine need in a particular area and care more about fulfilling that need than your overall career development/trajectory. I've seen it happen a couple of times. You may have to take whatever they offer you for a year or so until you can leverage your pretty strong resume into something better and switch at that point.

You could really be served by having someone on the inside help you navigate the recruitment department in order to figure out why this has happened. Are you friends with or do you have a strong relationship with any Associates or Partners there that you can talk to for advice before you respond to the firm?

[Anonymous User]

I did make a couple friends there when I summered, I just don't know how much I want to let it out that I'm unhappy with my situation.