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choosing a specialization post graduation


court of private opinion

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court of private opinion
  • Law Student

i was wondering if the courses you choose , or do not choose, necessarily preclude you from practicing in certain fields? 

Say i was interested in real estate , but could not take any real estate courses for one reason or another, would i be closing myself off from the field?

Is there any way to become competent in said fields after law school ?

Thank you 

 

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Puddnhead
  • Law Student

You are definitely not shut out from your dream practice area because you couldn’t get into the class- so don’t worry about that! Classes will give you a very helpful background but you learn so much while articling and otherwise working that it really won’t matter. They provide a context for when you learn how things are done and they also show firms you have an interest, but you’re definitely not precluded from anything. Interviewers may ask why you weren’t able to take any though, just a heads up 

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Avatar Aang
  • Lawyer

Your law school course selection doesn't matter for future positions, but where and what you do your articles in and first legal job does. Unless you land a job through OCIs, your law school course selection will matter to employers hiring articling students. If you article in a completely different area of law, it will be challenging to market yourself to employers in another area once you are called to the bar. I see this problem with a lot of new calls struggling to find jobs, as many of them I know still do not know what they want to practice in, or want to pursue an area of law they have no prior experience in. Unless you want to work in residential real estate, without corporate/real estate articles, you are going have great difficulty securing commercial real estate jobs. At that point, your course selection in law school won't matter.

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Aureliuse
  • Lawyer

Choosing the courses relevant to your practice area can help demonstrate your interest in those fields during interviews when you are being asked to provide your transcript.

9 hours ago, court of private opinion said:

Is there any way to become competent in said fields after law school ?

There are some CPDs aimed at helping those transition into a new field.

As indicated by others, I think it is more important to find the articling for your desired field.

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TheCryptozoologist
  • Articling Student
On 7/14/2021 at 11:06 AM, court of private opinion said:

i was wondering if the courses you choose , or do not choose, necessarily preclude you from practicing in certain fields? 

Say i was interested in real estate , but could not take any real estate courses for one reason or another, would i be closing myself off from the field?

Is there any way to become competent in said fields after law school ?

Thank you 

 

Lots of people don't take courses relevant to their major. Some firms won't really care and just require you to take the course in upper years since all 1Ls take the same courses except for a handful of schools offering seminars or something. 

Its different when finding articling jobs though, very specialized firms will sometimes care about grades for a specific course and of course getting an A in say tax law will net you a better look. Of course its not universal, my worse grade was a D+ in a 1L environmental law seminar and I interviewed with a handful of niche groups/firms in this field (didn't get a job out of them but that's a different story).  

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abogada
  • Lawyer

 

On 7/14/2021 at 8:06 AM, court of private opinion said:

Is there any way to become competent in said fields after law school ?

Honestly, law school doesn't do the best job of preparing lawyers for practice. It's great for learning case law and analyzing legal issue, but so much of the practice of law you learn on the job. That is the purpose of articling- to allow you to learn about how to be a lawyer without having the actual responsibility of being a lawyer. So don't worry about not having taken a course in one area of law. It does not preclude you from practicing in that area in the future.

Right now, I'm practicing in an area of law that I took no courses in and really didn't know anything about before I started practicing. I'm a government lawyer and started off in one practice area and then took a contract somewhere else and learned on the job (and from my colleagues). 

I agree that if you are applying for a niche area, and you've taken a lot of courses in that area it might get you an articling interview, but you won't likely feel competent in any area of the law until a few years of practice at least. 

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disgruntledpelican
  • Lawyer

Course selections in upper years doesn't really matter, a few of my classes didn't line up with my articling focus area. It may lead to questions about "why X" if there's a huge inconsistency and put you at a disadvantage with other students applying. After the call, my course selections did not come up when applying for other positions, or when I switched practice areas. The substantive, hands-on work experience I had was much more important. 

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