This thread was inspired by a fantastic post by JusticeHarlan describing the work of a capital markets lawyer (available here: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6#p7636022).
I thought it would be great if current lawyers could offer similarly in-depth explanations for the practice area that they are currently in. The idea would be that these explanations could be catalogued so that future law students who are looking at different practice groups can understand what those practice groups actually do and be able to figure out what they think is most interesting and/or suited to their talents.
This thread isn't just limited to biglaw practice areas so feel free to post even if you do things like work as a DA, practice family law, do trusts/estates, etc, all I ask is that whatever the practice area that you try to be as in-depth as possible. Also note if you can, whether your answer might differ based on your employer (e.g. private criminal defense probably looks a bit different than PD work, working in-house on a transaction probably looks different than working as an associate at a biglaw firm on that same transaction, etc).
Any current lawyers that could help with this, I (and current/future law students) would much appreciate it!
(Note: I understand the problems with the literal question as harlan outlined in his post, just thought it was the best thread title for this considering his excellent post.)
Job and Practice Area Descriptions
- Biglaw - General Litigation 1
- Biglaw - General Litigation 2
- Biglaw - Capital Markets
- Biglaw - M&A 1
- Biglaw - M&A 2
- Biglaw - Labor & Employment Law
- Biglaw - Venture Capital/Emerging Company/Startup Work
- Biglaw - Bankruptcy (junior)
- Biglaw - DE Local Bankruptcy Counsel
- Biglaw - Banking/Finance Transactions
- Biglaw - Shipping Finance (midlevel)
- Biglaw - DC Regulatory (Banking and Financial Services
- Biglaw - Tax (junior)
- Biglaw - Project Finance/Leveraged Finance
- Biglaw - T&E/Private Client (non-NYC junior)
- Biglaw - Employee Benefits/Executive Comp (2nd year)
- Biglaw - Healthcare (junior)
- Biglaw - International (regulatory/policy/advocacy) (DC)
- Biglaw - General Litigation (non-NYC junior)
- Biglaw - IP Litigation (SV)
- Biglaw - Litigation (third year V10 NYC)
- Biglaw - Commercial Litigation (junior, South)
- Big Boutique - Entertainment (mostly transactional) (LA/NYC)
- Midlaw - Flyover State
- Midlaw - Bankruptcy (Creditor)/Litigation (junior)
- Midlaw - IP Litigation (CA)
- Midlaw - Insurance Defense (West Coast)
- Small Boutique - Real Estate and Telecom
- Small Boutique - Tax & Estate Planning
- Small Firm - General Practice 1
- Small Firm - General Practice 2
- Small Firm - Oil/Gas Title Work
- Small Firm - Secondary Market Ps Work (2nd year associate)
- Small Firm - Immigration
- Small Firm - Commercial/General Civil Litigation/Transactional
- Small Firm - Litigation (secondary market)
- Small Firm - Litigation (FL)
- Law Firm - Patent Prosecution 1
- Law Firm - Patent Prosecution 2
- Law Firm - Smaller Market Litigation (second year associate)
- Law Firm - Antitrust (non-DC)
- Law Firm - Litigation 1
- Law Firm - Litigation 2
- Boutique - Complex Litigation
- REIT
- In-House - Bank
- In-House - Healthcare Transactions
- In-House - Tax
- In-House - Contract Manager (F100 Tech Company)
- In-House - Software Company (junior)
- In-House - Products (junior)
- In-House - Insurance Company
- In-House - Patent
- Criminal - AUSA
- Criminal - Prosecutor in US Territory
- Criminal - District Attorney (small county)
- Criminal - District Attorney (appeals unit)
- Criminal - City/County Attorney
- Criminal - County Prosecutor (moderate metro area)
- Criminal - ADA (large county)
- Criminal - Prosecutor (Traffic+Sex Crimes)
- Criminal - Prosecutor (Misdemeanors)
- Criminal - Prosecutor
- Criminal - State Public Defender 1
- Criminal - State Public Defender 2
- Criminal - Public Defender 1
- Criminal - Public Defender 2
- Criminal - Public Defender (small town)
- Criminal - Public Defender (large market)
- Criminal - Public Defender (junior + senior) (Philadelphia)
- Federal Agency - Regulatory
- Federal Agency - SSA
- Federal Agency - First Year Honors Attorney
- Federal Agency - Attorney-Adviser
- Federal Agency - Navy Office of General Counsel
- Federal Agency - DoJ Civil (first year)
- Judiciary - Federal District Court Law Clerk 1
- Judiciary - Federal District Court Law Clerk 2
- Judiciary - Federal District Court Law Clerk 3
- Judiciary - Federal Circuit Court Law Clerk
- Judiciary - State Appellate Court Staff Attorney 1
- Judiciary - State Appellate Court Staff Attorney 2
- Public Interest - Legal Aid
- Public Interest - Civil Legal Services
- Public Interest - International Human Rights NGO
- Public Interest - Impact Litigation (Staff Attorney)
- Academic - Clinical Teaching Fellow