2nd year transactional associate. Crim law has always been of interest to me, but I ended up going the big law route due to the need for money to help pay for my dad’s cancer treatment. The firm slotted me for transactional and here is where I am. I’ve tried applying for DA jobs, but nothing has come of it. Is there a way to get crim law experience through pro bono or is my dream unobtainable now?

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7th year litigation associate, and recently successfully transferred to a different practice area. I struggled with transferring due to lack of experience, but kept trying by knocking on different doors (as in networking, cold-emailing, etc.) and talking to different people. It’s like dating — you gotta get yourself out there. It’s hard but it’s doable. A lot of the entry level positions aren’t advertised, and you likely won’t be considered anyway.. so you have to meet people in person and show them why they should consider you.

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Tech litigation to (US) family law!

I was just start cold reaching out to criminal law partners that you would want to work for, I bet your transactional experience would be helpful for white collar

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Yeah, I think I may just have to do that.

praying for the best for your father as someone who went through something similar , good luck and let us know how your search goes

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Thank you so much, I really appreciate your kind words and prayers. 🖤

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Some cities have programs that allow private attorneys to do pro bono prosecution.

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I remember when big firms would send their baby lawyers down to traffic court to get trial experience. I doubt most states allow for jury trials for speeding tickets, but Texas does.

The pro bono angle seems like a great idea. You can absolutely pivot your career. After/while doing a relevant pro bono case, I feel like I might go to a conference or an event held by a speciality bar association to get a sense of the players and network. Coming from BL is a position of strength, tons of people do BL for a few years for training and to launch themselves.

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