Any advice on a first year trying to transition from family law to in-house? I always thought family law was my path, and used to enjoy it, but it’s not the direction I want to head in anymore. I don’t think I even want to continue with any litigation work. I’m having a hard time finding firms that are hiring entry level associate positions that don’t require at least 3+ years experience in-house. Should I start at a business law firm to get experience working with corporations first?

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What state? Yes, you will need experience in transactional law or complex litigation to go in house - Preferably transactional. You are still young, plenty of time to change course. It’s okay to say “I thought I wanted to do family law, but it wasn’t for me” when interviewers ask you why you are transitioning. Might be easier to get a job at insurance defense before complex lit or transactional job to bridge the gap.

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You are not stuck until you are about 5-7 years in. There should be lots of insurance defense jobs in your area which is admittedly litigation, but it’s kind of like big law lite. Do that for a year and you can probably jump to commercial litigation in big law. Once in big law you should be able to spin yourself as having transaction experience based on business litigation. So you are probably, at least, 2-3 years out at least before going in house as you gain necessary experience.

I was exactly in the spot you were in 2019. I was miserable doing litigation, begging for work from anyone senior I could find, and working until 7-8 PM every night. I ended up transitioning by taking a law clerk/contracts specialist role at a Fortune 500. Downgrade in title but an upgrade in pay. Did that for 17 months then monkey branched over to another large company as Corporate Counsel.

It was actually pretty painless as contracts specialists are jd preferred anyway and it gives you the skills to become great at redlining and reviewing but with fewer expectations.

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