Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
disclaimer: I'm a student so i apologise for any remarks which may seem ignorant
I heard it's easier to get a TC in liti/dispute resolution department in bad times like these. but i'm worried i won't like liti as i'm an introvert. if i don't like liti and i apply to be an assoc in the corporate department of another firm after my training, will it be very difficult to get a job as a corporate lawyer?
is being a liti assoc considerably more stressful than being a corporate lawyer in the same firm - i'm looking to apply to mid sized firms
on the other hand, let's say i like working as a disputes lawyer and do that for a few years. does that severely limit my ability to go in house, to the point where it would be almost impossible for me to get a decent in house position, if i have no connections and have average grades from a local uni?
can i go from being a disputes lawyer in private practice to working in a legal role in the public sector with only a weak second upper, in a role that does not involve me being a prosecutor? just curious even though i prefer the private sector for personal reasons
finally, is there a significant difference between litigation and arbitration work? i plan to take arbi mods in my final year. if i mostly do court cases during the TC that doesn't mean i can't do arbi work later on in my career, right? i think liti/arbi both should require similar skill sets?
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Switching from Liti to Corp is fine, but you may need to find a firm with large enough practice groups that you can apply to switch around. If you're going to a small one-two man firm it's quite pigeon-holed.
Liti & Corp have different stress levels. For liti, when you are on a case, you may need to stay back late to prep documents for weeks on end. For Corp it's more of a slow burn, "high season" timings are also present, but the sheer desperation and fear of running out of time to submit documents to the Court is not present.
It's tough to go into in-house as a liti lawyer unless you are in specific practice groups (Construction/IP law), a general liti lawyer has a harder time going in-house than corp lawyers. Find those in-house roles where "covering your ass" is more impt than doing up a pretty document, those fields may require liti-trained lawyers.
If you're talking specifically "public" roles, you can always apply to do legal policy etc at the minlaw, but they generally want you to have certain experiences or unique selling points (e.g are you a family lawyer who wants to specialise in fam law reform?)
Liti and Arbi are same same but different. Arbitration is very hard to get into as a lawyer at any PQE, because arbitration is not in the Courts. Therefore, you don't need to be an SG-qualified lawyer even if the arbitration is in SG. You are competing worldwide for the bigger cases. Essentially, unless you are super high flyer, or you find a strong liti/arbi mentor, you won't do big arbitration cases anyway. My advice is don't bother taking arbitration mods, nobody cares at all. Save your energy and apply for an elective giving out easy As. If you really want to train for arbi, you can always do it during the part b course.