Litigation Area Strategy? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I’ll be starting at a V10 NYC firm that’s great for all lit areas, but I’ve read on here that exit opportunities are less plentiful for this department and that it’s also a dying big law area.

If my goals are to be useful as a long-term associate both at this firm or potentially a mid-sized firm in a secondary market later on, which areas of litigation should I try to get the most work? Are the lit areas I should focus on different if I’d want to work in-house later instead of a firm? Are there specific lit areas that are growing or likely to be most useful to know in the future?

This is all assuming I have a little control over what kind of work I get to do and that I don’t have some affinity for a specific kind of work when I get there.

Thank you for the help!

[Anonymous User]

Bump

[Anonymous User]

I mean, lit will probably always be around. Any lit group that is government-facing or regulatory-related will probably have staying power as well. General commercial lit is also a solid bet as long as contracts are part of society.

[Anonymous User]

That makes sense. On a cursory search of litigation positions in secondary markets for non-V100 firms, I see a lot of specialized roles like junior “construction litigation associate,” “mass tort litigator” or “healthcare law associate” which confuses me a bit.

Are these kinds of roles usually taken up by general commercial litigators from big law who then land these specialized jobs in smaller markets without too much experience? Or are these areas something you’d likely need to dabble in a bit while in big law before applying?