Stuck in articling practice area?

[Mountain1234]

I’ve secured articling at a civil litigation boutique (mostly PI, insurance and some med mal). I’m happy to have secured something but I am worried about being “stuck” in this area of law after articles.
 

How hard is it to transition to say labour law, employment law or even class actions as a new call? Am I stuck? 

[HammurabiTime]

From articling I don't think it's too hard to switch practice areas, particularly since everything you identified is on the litigation side. The longer you wait to switch the harder it will probably be. If you know this isn't what you want you should be pretty proactive in trying to network and look around throughout your articles to try and line something up for once you're done.

[Zarathustra]

Did PI for articling and switched to employment law after. It's not difficult.

[Darth Vader]

Employment law is very doable but class actions is more niche so you would have to find a firm willing to take on a new call in this practice area. Labour law will be a difficult transition unless you have a strong resume for the labour firms and good grades. The people I see working at these firms have done nothing but social justice/labour law stuff since even before they went to law school. In-house labour unions almost never hire new calls and job postings typically ask for a few years of experience in the field. I haven't seen anyone with a strong labour law profile struggle to land an articling position in this field. They care a lot about hiring the right person for the job.