Ever regret choosing your particular practice area?

[Lawstudents20202020]

55 minutes ago, realpseudonym said:

I’ve heard that you start to feel more comfortable a few years in, and then later you realize you still have no idea what you’re doing. 

[Jaggers]

I commented on this thread earlier, but now that there's a GIF, I'm out!

[Garfield]

where r the solicitors

[BlockedQuebecois]

10 hours ago, Garfield said:

where r the solicitors

They’re too busy working weekends so that they are well prepared for the “pens down” email on Monday when the client decides to reevaluate their strategic options, as is tradition. 

[easttowest]

Not unlike working around the clock for a month before the other side snaps up an open offer to settle. 

At least in that case it will almost certainly go away, unlike the deal which could come back to life and probably on like Dec 23 or something, or your birthday.

[Mal]

On 1/6/2023 at 1:42 PM, Chambertin said:

I'm really happy I chose tax. I initially wanted to do planning but sort of ending up doing litigation by default. I wish I had insisted or done more planning because I would have better exit options. No real 'exits' for a tax litigator except tax litigation somewhere else. 

+1 to this. I really liked tax litigation, but I swapped to government to write tax law pretty early. Tax legislation work is great for me.

[Rashabon]

On 1/14/2023 at 4:09 PM, Lawstudents20202020 said:

I just had one of the partners tell me that never happens, you just get more. Comfortable with not knowing

Eh. Maybe if you're a litigator, I dunno. I've been competent for a few years now and feel pretty comfortable with many things. New situations crop up all the time but I know how to handle them.

[Mountebank]

On 1/15/2023 at 3:41 AM, Garfield said:

where r the solicitors

Not regretting their respective practice areas it seems.

[Lawstudents20202020]

17 hours ago, Rashabon said:

Eh. Maybe if you're a litigator, I dunno. I've been competent for a few years now and feel pretty comfortable with many things. New situations crop up all the time but I know how to handle them.

I think that's the thrust of the partners comment. You will never be able to anticipate every problem that walks in the door, or have a complete understanding of every relevant law, but you do get more comfortable in your ability to sort through it and come up with a solution. 

[AllWellAndGood]

On 1/15/2023 at 12:02 PM, easttowest said:

Not unlike working around the clock for a month before the other side snaps up an open offer to settle. 

At least in that case it will almost certainly go away, unlike the deal which could come back to life and probably on like Dec 23 or something, or your birthday.

Sounds like your Christmas was a lot like my new years eve and day...

[Garfield]

On 1/16/2023 at 9:03 AM, Mountebank said:

Not regretting their respective practice areas it seems.

my point exactly 

[Rusty Iron Ring]

On 1/15/2023 at 11:44 PM, Rashabon said:

Eh. Maybe if you're a litigator, I dunno. I've been competent for a few years now and feel pretty comfortable with many things. New situations crop up all the time but I know how to handle them.

I'm a litigator.  I'm definitely more comfortable with more things, but I'm also more aware of how many things there are to know that I don't know (more known unknowns).

I assume there are people who run a very narrow repetitive practice, and become masters of their domain, and rarely encounter anything truly unknown. That is not my experience. (Edit: Again, this is an assumption.  I couldn't name you anyone in this category. I could definitely name you people who think they are in this category, and are not entirely right.)

Personally, I spend a lot of time outside my comfort zone, which is nice because it expands my comfort zone, and also because I don't get bored.  Yes, it can be very, very stressful. 

The thing that helps a lot is spending some time in court, and seeing that everyone else who is doing anything of significant complexity or difficulty (similar lawyers, more senior lawyers, judges, everyone) is also frequently outside of their comfort zone, and frequently disagree about what the right way is to handle a file, and even frequently disagree about what the law is. 

Basically yes, you get more comfortable with not knowing things, in part because you realize that many things are just unknown or unknowable, and that's the nature of doing things that are hard.  You do your best, try not to go crazy, and if you're lucky you enjoy a bunch of it. 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Rusty Iron Ring

[happydude]

Litigation here. I definitely regret it. Not in terms of the substantive content of the job. But because I am now in-house and have no desire to go back into private practice.... and it seems to me that the opportunities for in-house solicitors are far, far more plentiful (and often better paid) than they are for in-house litigators. Maybe I am just looking in the wrong places.

I am not really looking to leave my current gig. But I do always peak at the Ontario Reports postings, as I am sure many do. It seems being a litigator in-house is more career limiting and less appreciated than being a solicitor, which I find discouraging. I suspect it flows from the fact that many businesses view litigation as nothing but a cost center, whereas solicitors are often viewed as assets that help big contracts get negotiated etc. - making the business more money as opposed to telling them why paying 200k to settle is actually a great deal given the odds of defeat at trial for this billion dollars screw up.

Adding salt to the wound is that a litigator can generally do a solicitor's job far more capably than the reverse. A few of my corporate colleagues started in litigation, and did not switch to the solicitor side until they were well into their careers (not really sure how they pulled that off being relatively senior). I don't think I've ever seen the reverse. 

Edited February 4, 2023 by happydude