transitioning from securities law to litigation (3 months in as an associate) - is this possible?

[hiya]

hi everyone,

i have a friend who's a securities associate (3 months in) at a major law firm downtown toronto. she tells me that she's been thinking of making a transition to litigation at the same law firm but doesn't know how to go about doing that. is such a transition possible? what steps should she take? is it bad to disclose her intentions this early?

 

just some background info:

- she summered and articled at a corporation (not a law firm) and had been doing mostly corporate/ securities matters the entire time

- she was able to land a securities associate position at a major law firm straight outta articling

- she has no practical experience in litigation aside from her mooting experience in law school

 

we were brainstorming and one idea i had was that she could perhaps slowly transition to securities litigation, but she told me that she was hoping to do more than just securities litigation. perhaps commercial litigation too. i also noticed that those in dispute resolution at major law firms usually take on a few practice areas such as securities litigation, corporate/commercial litigation etc., but given her current lack of experience in litigation in general, is there some sorta way that she could still transition to litigation and be trained at the same time? should she ask for a lower salary? what are her chances against an articling student who has done a litigation cycle?

 

all advice/ suggestions are welcome. thank you.

 

[BlockedQuebecois]

She's early enough in her career that I would advise just talking to her firm about it. Large firms aren't generally going to let corporate associates "slowly transition to securities litigation"—generally the roles are more segregated than that. 

Depending on the needs of the firm, they may just let her transition to the litigation group. 

If her firm refuses that request (which they may very well do), she's probably going to need to find a different position in order to make that move. 

[Rashabon]

Yeah just talk to the firm. People move in the early stages all the time. I had a junior switch very early from securities to employment law.