What is your take on the future of white-collar criminal defense in big law? It is obviously a massively profitable practice for firms that is hard to farm out / delegate to smaller firms. The largely doc review nature, though, makes it vulnerable to disruption from people who are willing to do it for cheap--or does it? The doc review is less about responsive/non-responsive coding and more about fact development and is more high-stakes. Does that make it more immune / future proof?
The reason I am asking is I have an opportunity to transition to a white-collar defense role at my firm. I currently do mostly commercial litigation. The role is highly specialized (not just regular white-collar, but a specific area of white-collar that isn't FCPA--think healthcare, antitrust, securities, tax). I don't want to pigeon-hole myself into a super niche area, but at the same time, commercial litigators are a dime a dozen and this is an opportunity to distinguish myself as a specialist.
Sorry I can't provide more details as I am afraid of outing myself, but any thoughts are appreciated about the potential future marketability of being a white-collar specialist in a non-FCPA niche field. Exit options are obviously limited so I want to be careful. Down the line, is it pretty easy to market myself as a general white-collar criminal defense lawyer capable of doing internal investigations/FCPA work even if most of my experience is in a particular niche?
Future of specialized white-collar criminal defense / investigations Forum
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Re: Future of specialized white-collar criminal defense / investigations
If you’re not married to standard lit, this 1. Sounds like a cool opportunity, and 2. Sounds like exactly the niche-type specialty that people get into and flourish at which begets clients and causes you to be seriously considered for partner. Also sounds like such an intense investigative practice could make an ausa jump even more viable, if that’s something you’re interested in.Anonymous User wrote:What is your take on the future of white-collar criminal defense in big law? It is obviously a massively profitable practice for firms that is hard to farm out / delegate to smaller firms. The largely doc review nature, though, makes it vulnerable to disruption from people who are willing to do it for cheap--or does it? The doc review is less about responsive/non-responsive coding and more about fact development and is more high-stakes. Does that make it more immune / future proof?
The reason I am asking is I have an opportunity to transition to a white-collar defense role at my firm. I currently do mostly commercial litigation. The role is highly specialized (not just regular white-collar, but a specific area of white-collar that isn't FCPA--think healthcare, antitrust, securities, tax). I don't want to pigeon-hole myself into a super niche area, but at the same time, commercial litigators are a dime a dozen and this is an opportunity to distinguish myself as a specialist.
Sorry I can't provide more details as I am afraid of outing myself, but any thoughts are appreciated about the potential future marketability of being a white-collar specialist in a non-FCPA niche field. Exit options are obviously limited so I want to be careful. Down the line, is it pretty easy to market myself as a general white-collar criminal defense lawyer capable of doing internal investigations/FCPA work even if most of my experience is in a particular niche?
