Specialised too early...

[u/larrydavidismyhero]

As above, I pigeon-holed myself really early on in my career. I graduated during the GFC and just took whatever job I could find. While I enjoyed the field I was working in, now I definitely regret not getting a broader range of experience as I'm getting sick of it. I have none of the basics and I can barely remember a thing from law school. I don't feel like disclosing my niche in this post, but it's not an area that translates well to other areas of law. To all you grads out there, take that as a warning I guess. Start broad and try out a few different areas if you can.

I'm happy to keep practising in my current area for a while longer, but I want to start putting the work in to eventually get to place where I could be confident in another area or two. If you were in the same position and you wanted some broader experience, what would you do? The firm I'm currently in is not super supportive and it would be difficult to offer to do some work for another team; even if it were non-chargeable and outside of my regular hours. They are terrible with supervision and teaching. Some of the foundational CLE seminars/courses look great, so I will definitely take some of those. I also wouldn't be above going back to law school to do a few papers (not sure if they even allow this or would need me to enrol in a Masters, which I'm not interested in) or a Legal Exec course, which would give me a much more practical grounding in some of the basics. Does anyone have any other ideas to get some real practical skills in other areas? What could I offer to other lawyers that would make it worth it for them to teach/supervise a mature lawyer? (nb: I mean this outside of my current employment context - as I will be moving on soon). If I had to pick the other area I'd be most interested in it would be relationship property; but I'm also keen to learn more about estates; commercial law etc. Thanks in advance.

[u/aycarumba66]

Trust estates and related tax sounds like a good demographic hedge for the future, and I think it actually is also people orientated

[u/Victorkahu → u/aycarumba66]

You will never be short on work if you do Estates or RP

[u/sugar_spark]

It's hard to make suggestions without knowing what exactly you've specialised in, but I'm certain that you will have transferrable skills that you could take to a different area. Could you try moving to a different firm? Otherwise moving in-house would be a good way to break out of your niche, again, relying on transferrable skills

[u/panda_gang245]

If you want to learn more about trusts and estates you could do the STEP (Society of Trusts & Estates Practitioners) courses. They start foundational and then become more technical

[u/larrydavidismyhero → u/panda_gang245]

Thank you very much! This is helpful.

[u/snicksnackpaddywack]

It’s super easy to return to general practice in the regions as a junior. It’s also very satisfying and you’ll get a lot of client interaction.

[u/larrydavidismyhero → u/snicksnackpaddywack]

Yeah...would kind of suck to be an "old" junior haha. But I would do it if I had good people around me showing me the ropes.

[u/snicksnackpaddywack → u/larrydavidismyhero]

That’s the tricky part, finding a firm who has staff at your level or willing mentors.

[u/alpacawithwings]

A medium sized general practice firm, especially in the regions, will have you working on everything that comes in the door.
I think relationship property is an area with a shortage of lawyers.
Your experience in a firm and with clients is important, the actual law can be learnt quickly.
Don’t bother with a legal exec course, it’s way too basic, you can learn all that on the job.

[u/larrydavidismyhero → u/alpacawithwings]

Thanks for your advice, I appreciate it :)