Changing practice area
Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2020 11:15 am
Currently 5th-6th year biglaw associate, and really dislike some aspects of the work (will refrain from details, but will say it's corporate transactional). The only reason I am staying in law is to shield my spouse from having to experience life in the modern corporate workforce.
And so I'm fine with doing this (and fine with continuing to grind it out in my current area), but would ideally like to find a practice area that I am better suited for. I have no fear of numbers (quite the opposite), and enjoy Excel. (Maybe should have done coding or ibanking but that's neither here nor there. And yes I know that you guys must be tired of hearing "grass is greener" stuff, but hopefully it will become clear later why I mention those fields.)
I have worked on a few ISDA agreements and enjoyed that process. I like the idea of mastering the ISDA form and how it works, and then drafting things to fit into that framework. In general, contract drafting appeals to me (feels like coding, except in English rather than Python or something). I love the process of playing with wording to make it work (like debugging code).
What I cannot stand is voluminous disclosure/policy documents. I find it both very boring, and also taxing on my reading speed and memory (both of which I think are sub-par). And I much prefer "greenfield" drafting (crafting language to make something work) over digging through and comparing precedents.
Also, my work right now feels more like scrivener than legal expert (lots of turning comments, reviewing long disclosure docs for sense and precision, comparing precedents), and it would be ideal if I could develop expertise in an area of law.
All that said, I would appreciate any guidance on areas of law that you think could fit the bill (maybe there aren't any), and how one might re-tool for and transition into those areas. One obvious answer might be ISDA work, but I am not sure if that area is / is expected to stay in demand; any thoughts on that would be welcome. Thanks for any advice.
And so I'm fine with doing this (and fine with continuing to grind it out in my current area), but would ideally like to find a practice area that I am better suited for. I have no fear of numbers (quite the opposite), and enjoy Excel. (Maybe should have done coding or ibanking but that's neither here nor there. And yes I know that you guys must be tired of hearing "grass is greener" stuff, but hopefully it will become clear later why I mention those fields.)
I have worked on a few ISDA agreements and enjoyed that process. I like the idea of mastering the ISDA form and how it works, and then drafting things to fit into that framework. In general, contract drafting appeals to me (feels like coding, except in English rather than Python or something). I love the process of playing with wording to make it work (like debugging code).
What I cannot stand is voluminous disclosure/policy documents. I find it both very boring, and also taxing on my reading speed and memory (both of which I think are sub-par). And I much prefer "greenfield" drafting (crafting language to make something work) over digging through and comparing precedents.
Also, my work right now feels more like scrivener than legal expert (lots of turning comments, reviewing long disclosure docs for sense and precision, comparing precedents), and it would be ideal if I could develop expertise in an area of law.
All that said, I would appreciate any guidance on areas of law that you think could fit the bill (maybe there aren't any), and how one might re-tool for and transition into those areas. One obvious answer might be ISDA work, but I am not sure if that area is / is expected to stay in demand; any thoughts on that would be welcome. Thanks for any advice.