There's a fair bit of opportunity for mobility between practice areas, especially for more junior lawyers. I know many lawyers that have transitioned through multiple different fields, and I have done so myself. I don't personally know any lawyers that are currently stuck in fields they hate, though I've known a few that felt stuck until they landed something else. This is pretty common at the mid-to-senior associate level. The challenge isn't that experience in one area disqualifies or locks you out from other areas; it's more that it just doesn't really qualify you for other areas. Fundamental lawyering skills (contract/statutory interpretation, writing and communication skills, client management, etc.) are transferable between areas, as is very general legal knowledge and experience, but practice in most fields depends on knowledge and experience with the law and factual context of that area. Doing labour litigation isn't particularly relevant experience to wills and estates practice. Doing mergers and acquisitions isn't particularly useful for criminal practice. So on and so forth. Obviously, some areas have more crossover than others; for example, criminal defence experience would be more relevant experience for a class action litigation job than, say, a corporate tax job, because general litigation skills are transferable. What this means is that if you want to switch areas, it will likely mean taking on a less senior role than your year of call would otherwise suggest (at least temporarily - from what I've seen, a lot of people seem to catch up after a few years). I don't think it ever means starting from the same footing as a brand new call, as general legal knowledge and experience has some value, but legal employers will always discount irrelevant experience to some degree. Some potential employers might see you as a flight risk, particularly if you're applying for a more junior position and would easily be able to make more going back to your old area. You'd need to be able to convince them that you genuinely want to switch practice areas. That shouldn't be hard if you actually want to switch.

Got the phone call about an hour ago! cGPA: 3.95 B3: 3.97 LSAT: 167 (October), 169 (November) -- unsure if they got my Nov score in time for the decision General applicant, wrote optional essay

Accepted on uozone yesterday and got the email this morning! LSAT 167 cGPA/B3 3.88 Very average ECs (part-time, club, volunteer, etc.) and one internship Applied General

uozone

You misunderstood/misconstrued my point twice. My comments are intended to be directed to a specific subsect of people, which I’ve made clear. I’ve already acknowledged many people change their mind on their path for reasons that I find entirely acceptable and normal. You’re an applicant and have no way of knowing if I’m generalizing or not since you’re not in law school—but even so, I never said anything about the frequency of the behaviour I’m criticizing, you put that in there. I don’t think it’s most people who're like this, but it happens often enough that I’m not the only person who’s mentioned it in the thread. You’ve also decided to make quite a few assumptions about me, when the only info I’ve given is that I’m not using OCIs to job seek. People who dedicate their lives to good causes absolutely get support and respect. I guess you've never done that kind of work or you'd know. Moreover, I’m not someone dead set on a career that betters others at a cost to me. I want to help good causes where I can but I fully acknowledge that my personal wellbeing comes first. Like most people. This thread was about getting pigeonholed into certain types of law. I suppose mods can splice if they want, or you can stop making unhelpful comments.   

Got the phone call this morning!  B3 3.90 (much lower CGPA), 164 LSAT. Good softs & wrote the optional essay. General applicant. 

congrats! did they email you or was it on uozone?