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Kasowitz Benson - what is your opinion of them?
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Subject Expert
You can say this happened organically due to the situation in your original practice group, that you actually never left, and that you had multidisciplinary experience throughout these years by going back and forth.
Nobody would think you couldn’t fit in your original practice group because if that were true, you would have been shown the door. Focus on your M&A expertise and the fact that you have complementary skills as a bonus
Subject Expert
You don’t have to explain anything bad about your current firm. Just focus on “I got a chance to do this m&a work, really loved it, my current firm doesn’t really have the kind of practice in m&a that I’d like to do in the long term and your firm does so I think it would align much better with my long term goals” - something like that will sound great. Firms love hearing strong practice reasons based on your long-term career goals to join them. They give zero fucks about internal dynamics at unrelated practice groups like arbitration at your current firm, so long as you’re not giving the impression that you were unsuccessful/not liked as an associate and are being pushed out. (Hint, don’t mention it and they probably won’t ask about it.)
On your resume, maybe just list yourself as “Associate” rather than “Arbitration Associate” and in your bullet points and/or deal sheet, highlight the m&a experience (including m&a arbitration).
If someone does say “hey it looks like you were actually in the arbitration group, what’s up with that?” totally fine to say “yeah I was originally hired for that, it ended up being slower than everyone expected but all worked out great since it gave me the opportunity to work on these m&a transactional matters that I then fell in love with”.
Pay attention, do a lot of research on what the firms you’re applying to/interviewing with actually do and the people you’re interviewing with actually do (I would read bios/deal sheets of like everyone in the department, not just the ones you are interviewing with). Ask a lot of questions during the interviews about how the practice operates too.
You never know what other of your existing skill sets may be attractive, so be ready to highlight how those fit into your proposed practice in the context of how the firm operates. (I recently interviewed for a role supporting one group, which they liked me for, but when they saw my broad experience they actually decided to have me support 3 different groups. I’m a senior candidate, so somewhat different, but even so.) Spin, spin, spin. E.g., m&a arbitration definitely sounds like something you should highlight even if you’re going into a pure transactional practice, compliance is always useful (talk about how you can make it apply in m&a context), you can do some of the RE support work on M&A transactions yourself and you have some basic RE knowledge now so you can talk to and coordinate with RE specialists when you need to bring them in. (As an occasional specialist, can’t tell you how frustrating it is when the m&a lawyer has no idea what I do and just throws their problems at me. Especially when they’re junior and acting like I have nothing else to do but work for them.)
Good luck. It honestly sounds like you have a great case to be hired in m&a transactions, so long as a firm has a hot practice there with junior need.
Thank you very much for the insight. Your opinion was very helpful and much needed. As you would guess, I am worried that I spent valuable time on a practice that I like but is ultimately not the career path I wish to pursue. I will work on how to highlight my m&a expertise and phrase my other experiences to accentuate my willingness to pursue a career as a transactional lawyer.
Worth noting that my arbitration experience is also focused in m&a arbitrations and dispute management, and construction arbitration.