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How did you find your 'niche'?


undertheletter

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undertheletter
  • Law Student

Probably a poorly worded question, but for all the lawyers out there (maybe articling students too), how/when did you decide to focus on a specific practice area? Is academic interest a good indication of interest in the actual practice area? What steps did you take to demonstrate interest/break in?

I'm in first year and so far I enjoy all of my courses, but none stand out as 'the one' which I would obviously pursue as a career. Because of this, I feel like I'm missing out on building up a set of area-specific EC's/research opportunities which might help me in the future. 

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CleanHands
  • Lawyer

I only applied to law school because there was a specific practice area I wanted to work in. I knew what I wanted to do. Neither law school nor legal practice ever made me second guess this for a second. Although I have discovered some additional areas that were interesting and rewarding which became secondary pursuits.

Not to make you feel anxious, because your trajectory in this respect is definitely more common than mine.

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TobyFlenderson
  • Lawyer

Assuming your first year classes are anything like Western's (contracts, torts, constitutional, property, criminal), they're very broad. At some point, you'll hopefully come across some section of a class that you find pretty interesting. That might point you in the right direction.

Once you start to get electives and can choose classes that sound interesting (and, maybe more importantly, can actively avoid areas you know you don't like).

I developed a pretty decent interest in one of my 1L classes by the end that has steered me into a particular practice area (and I was lucky enough to summer in that area, which helped), but I've also developed an interest in another area as a result of an upper year class that I'll have the chance to explore while articling. 

For what it's worth, even though I knew (or, at least, thought I knew!) what I wanted to do by March of 1L, I didn't have a law job until the summer between 2L/3L, so 1) there's lots of time to figure out what you want before you need to start chasing opportunities, but also 2) you don't really know that you like something until you try it. 

All this to say: don't worry too much. Something will strike your interest at some point. Your interests might change over time as you expose yourself to different areas of law. But it's very early, so just enjoy your classes, soak them up and learn as much as you can, and an interest will probably develop naturally over time in some area of law that you'll have a chance to dig into deeper in upper years. 

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Whist
  • Law Student

Even a little over a month into 1L, I have a strong feeling which areas are not for me. Aside from that, I know which classes I like more, but as others have pointed out, they're broad so I still have no idea if there are subsections within those areas that I'd pursue. I don't think there's any need for us to have already zeroed in on anything and I have yet to meet any prof or fellow student who thinks we should.

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Darth Vader
  • Lawyer

I think the main thing you really need to figure out by the end of 1L is if you want to pursue Big law. Applications for 2L clinic positions are usually due by the end of 1L. These positions are extremely important to students that want to pursue non-corporate work. The OCI recruit is 90% large corporate firms that practice in these areas of law - https://www.blakes.com/expertise/practices. Think about the clients you want to serve, hours you want to work, and type of environment you want to be in - private/public; small, medium, large firms; in-house corporation or regulatory agency; government; non-profits, etc. Most people do OCIs because it is the path of least resistance and the recruitment is handed to you on a silver platter. They think they can work in Big law, make some money, get exposure to different areas of law, and then once they're more settled, leave Big law to pursue what they always wanted to do - non-corporate work. They do not realize that this entails going back to square one in most cases and resetting their careers; the golden handcuffs are real at this point.

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bearrrhunter
  • Law Student

-Not a lawyer, just some student who spent a long time to decide which area of law I would like to pursue-

Think about what you really want to do daily and who you want to deal with daily instead of "which firm pays how much", or "which firm is a leading firm so it should be a good choice for me"

if you enjoy dealing with individual clients' problem, and don't mind individual clients' background (which some of them can be really different from your own social circles), then it would be more likely you are into family, crim, immigration etc. 

If you prefer dealing with middle class professionals and institutions, then Big law or mid size firms properly suits you better. 

you can also think about if you like the idea of litigation, or if you prefer providing all kinds of solutions/paperwork to meet clients' need such as advising on how and where to set up a Joint Venture, or how to help an company apply a certain permit etc.

Once you narrow down your interest you can try talk to some of the upper year students who secured articling position in the area you wanted to practice. It helped me immensely

 

Edited by bearrrhunter
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  • 2 weeks later...
Aureliuse
  • Lawyer

Get out there and shadow lawyers on the "front lines," help them run their practice as a summer student or an articling student.

What you learn in law school can be night v. day from the real life practice of law. For one, you don't meet people from all walks of life (clients) and listen to their goals, background, and problems. You don't worry about billing and collection issues. You don't have filing deadlines and court-specific document filing requirements.

I have been fighting in the thickets of family law for many years. The story I can tell a law student will probably traumatize some or make some think about working for me or helping me help other people (my clients).

That's how you find your niche - by actually working in a lawyer-like or law-firm-like environment.

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GGrievous
  • Law Student

I have the opposite issue as OP.. I am going in knowing exactly what I want to do and so far that has not changed and has only strengthened. But then I hear stories of people who were certain that changed their minds and THAT gives me anxiety. Like shit I'm only preparing for the one field. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
OntheVerge
  • Lawyer

I went to law school with only a vague idea of a future practice area. I ended up liking most of my courses, which didn't help me decide on what not to take going forward. I ended up almost accidentally taking classes only in one field of law because I found it interesting and my grades reflected that. I essentially pigeonholed myself without meaning to, so ended up articling in the same area and was going to make a career of it. Then I got a job offer I couldn't refuse and now am practicing in an area of law that was completely foreign to me at the time. 

I'm sure the above wasn't particularly helpful, but I wanted to assuage any fears for any students reading this who are worrying about not knowing exactly what they want to do. That's fine. You don't have to have everything mapped out. Keep opportunities open and try different courses to see if something sticks but don't put pressure on yourself. Life happens. What you plan to do might not be what you end up doing and that's fine, too. It's sometimes easy to forget that, especially when surrounded by peers who know (or say they know) exactly what area they're going to practice in once they're called.

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On 10/20/2021 at 7:07 PM, Barry said:

I have the opposite issue as OP.. I am going in knowing exactly what I want to do and so far that has not changed and has only strengthened. But then I hear stories of people who were certain that changed their minds and THAT gives me anxiety. Like shit I'm only preparing for the one field. 

I mean this isn’t a wrong path either. I went to law school knowing I wanted to do corporate law and that’s what I did. I never changed my mind even a little bit. I think it’s totally fine to go all in if you really know what you want. And even if it turns out after a few years of practice you got it all wrong, early enough in your career it’s reasonably easy to switch out. Much of what you learn in the first few years of practice is just how to be a good lawyer. All the field-specific stuff, in the early years, you can pick up quickly with good mentorship, sufficient CPD, and some diligent studying. 

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Vizslaw
  • Lawyer
On 10/20/2021 at 7:07 PM, Barry said:

I have the opposite issue as OP.. I am going in knowing exactly what I want to do and so far that has not changed and has only strengthened. But then I hear stories of people who were certain that changed their minds and THAT gives me anxiety. Like shit I'm only preparing for the one field. 

Don't second guess yourself. I had the same experience. I was 100% into criminal law going into law school and it never changed. The first 5-6 years of practice were almost exclusively crim and it's only been in the past few years that our firm has branched out into more professional misconduct/administrative law/quasi-criminal stuff and we still have a fair number of criminal files, so it can all work out! It felt quite liberating in law school to be like, to hell with income tax, family law, business associations, civil procedure and just focus on the topics I cared about.

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Yeah, I knew I was interested in labour law when I went into law school. I was open to changing my mind, but never did. I think the only nod I gave to uncertainty was taking a job at a full service firm with a strong labour department, instead of a labour law boutique.

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I also had a general interest in about five things before law school and ended up picking one of them to focus on, which was based on the firm I ended up at and their practice areas. I think it’s helpful to have a plan, but be flexible in it. I think I could have happily practiced any of those five different areas. Am I happy with my CRE practice? Most definitely. Do I think I could have also been happy with a family practice? Yep. 

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Rashabon
  • Lawyer

I knew nothing about the area of law I now practice before practicing and didn't ever think of being a lawyer doing this work but I fell into it and am good at it and certain parts of it light up the right parts of my brain and so now it's what I do. But most of law school career and courses were centered around things very far from what I do now anyway.

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BondGuy
  • Lawyer

Because the people doing the hiring thought I did good stuff in it when I was articling. 

Then I took another file. And another. Then I got put on a really big one. Then the next really big one. 

...rinse repeat.

It is miles away from where I thought I'd end up practicing. 

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t3ctonics
  • Lawyer
On 11/2/2021 at 8:15 PM, Ryn said:

And even if it turns out after a few years of practice you got it all wrong, early enough in your career it’s reasonably easy to switch out. Much of what you learn in the first few years of practice is just how to be a good lawyer. All the field-specific stuff, in the early years, you can pick up quickly with good mentorship, sufficient CPD, and some diligent studying. 

I'm an example of this. I spent my first 4 years doing general civil litigation (mostly commercial). I took whatever came my way, and my main career development goal was basically just to develop my lawyering skills.

Then I took an in-house job that was going to involve a variety of litigation, but shortly after I started I had the opportunity to focus heavily on labour and employment due to another lawyer's departure. I had the fundamental skills, and just needed to learn the law and the unique facets of practice in the area. I had a senior lawyer to get advice from, and of course I took relevant CPD courses and did my research. It's been a few years since then, and I'm now in charge of the area (along with two others now, but L&E is the majority of what I do). I never had any intention of getting into it, but the opportunity arose and I took it.

I do have to say, I see a lot more lawyers switch areas in-house than in private practice. In private practice I think it will usually be hard for an experienced lawyer to get work in a new area due to competition, so any change is usually quite gradual or to an adjacent area. I've seen lawyers in the first few years of private practice switch completely though (i.e. litigation to corporate or vice-versa). In-house it's more common for people to take up something new, because A) you often have to kind of do it all anyways, and B) experience and understanding of the organization or industry can matter more for a given role than expertise in an area of law.

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We do pretty much every area of law in my company, and people move between them all the time.

I was recently asked if I'd like to change areas. I told them that it sounded a lot better than being a covid lawyer, but that what I really want to be is just a plain old employment lawyer again one day.

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easttowest
  • Lawyer
On 11/10/2021 at 2:13 PM, Jaggers said:

We do pretty much every area of law in my company, and people move between them all the time.

I was recently asked if I'd like to change areas. I told them that it sounded a lot better than being a covid lawyer, but that what I really want to be is just a plain old employment lawyer again one day.

Being a Covid lawyer must just be the worst. I’m so sorry. 

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Yeah. I just spent my Sunday evening preparing a memo for our GC about the two arbitration decisions out last week relating to the enforceability of a mandatory vaccination policy. So much fun. At least it's labour law at its core.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Healthygarden
  • Lawyer

Went into law school with a general idea of what I wanted. Enjoyed law school and narrowed down my interests. As others have mentioned, shadow different law practices, join events/seminars etc do things which would allow you to explore different types of law -- there are plenty.

 

Good luck.

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