How do you choose between diametrically opposed practice areas? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi everyone.

I am a 1L at a T14. I realize that this is probably premature but I'm thinking about practice groups already. Because I am an older student (32) and already established in my own career, I am trying--and always have tried--to take a practical approach to law school. Ideally, I would like to pick a practice area that is complementary to what my background is in, which is the dual citizenship space. My best case scenario end goal is to open up my own firm specializing in tax advising and global citizenship and residency planning for high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals. I've always had an entrepreneurial bent and know how to open and run a business. To get there, I would most likely want to put in 4-5 years of practice in a tax group first to build a book of business and really understand what I am doing.

However, I am also realistic. I know that businesses/firms can fail and specializing in tax neither means I will love it nor that I will end up being successful if I hang my own shingly. I wonder if it might be more prudent to concentrate on an area with better exit options such as capital markets. As a bonus, capital markets is the one practice area which is popular for US-trained attorneys in a particular European country where my husband is from. I would love to live there earning a US salary working for the US office of a firm in his country.

Herein lies the dilemma:

Do I explore tax, which I find highly interesting and which would possibly lend me an opportunity to open up my own firm/grow my current business (which my husband runs while I am in school)? It is a very lucrative field but there is no guarantee of success. It would also "tie" me down to living in the US for at least the next 7-8 years.

Or do I explore capital markets, an area I'm not particularly passionate about but which has good exit options and which could (possibly) land me a job in a country I want to live in very much?

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[Pictureframeleaf]

Take fed income tax and a couple advanced tax classes. If you like them, try tax assignments when you summer. If you like that, try to get a tax offer. Capital markets and tax are very different practices. If you read posts on each group and try assignments in each, you should pretty quickly get a feel for which one you prefer. My advice would then be to pick the better fit. One thing to note is that tax groups don’t take many people each year, so showing interest during the summer is key to getting a tax offer. Firms are bleeding capital market associates and I doubt anyone will tell you you can’t join CM if that’s what you want to do.

[jagpaw]

Also note to get closer to what you’re looking for you may want to try and get into a big law T&E group that does international estate planning. Advising on tax M&A and other transactions is useful but you will not have as much direct exposure to the type of work you’re looking for as you’d get in T&E

[CanadianWolf]

In addition to taking tax courses and securities courses in law school, you should consider pursuing the CFP (Certified Financial Planner) designation. The CFP courses and exams (there are 6 if I recall correctly) will expose you to financial planning methods used for both wealthy & middle class clients.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you, everyone!

I hadn't thought of T&E as a viable path, but it makes sense. How much of T&E would you all say "intersects" with tax... and how hard is it to get a position in T&E at a firm (preferably BigLaw or boutique)? I would imagine T&E is very much a niche field in firms with far fewer lawyers than in, say, mergers and acquisitions.