Can you be a successful litigator if you hate trial? I don’t mind other aspects of litigation (motion practice, discovery, depositions, etc.)

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Absolutely. Find someone to second chair for and be good at the things you enjoy. People who love being first chair (like me) need people like you

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Tl;Dr: yes
Almost no litigators are actually trial lawyers, nearly all are pre-trial lawyers. There are highly paid specialists inside and outside of top firms that parachute in at the last minute for anything actually going to trial.

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This is the correct answer. A litigation attorney in biglaw is very different from a trial attorney. You can absolutely be a litigator and not a trial attorney, or vice versa.

I’ve never met a litigator who didn’t hate trial. It’s miserable.

It’s also thankfully rare. You can absolutely go years in between trials (I’ve been to trial twice in the last 8 years).

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Now you have. It is not trial that I hate; it is the weeks and weeks of pre-trial misery that makes me ask why I did not choose being an accountant.

I am about to join a practice group at an AMLaw 30 that told me in advance that absolutely 0 cases will go to trial—I think there are areas where you absolutely can be.

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Can you share the practice area?

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