What to Learn About Practice Areas Before OCI Starts

You do not need to choose a BigLaw practice area before OCI.

In fact, most students should not pretend they have chosen one. You have not taken corporations, evidence, securities regulation, tax, bankruptcy, or trial advocacy yet. You are allowed to be early.

But you should learn the basic vocabulary before recruiting starts.

The goal is not certainty. The goal is to sound like someone who is paying attention.

Start with two buckets

Most BigLaw work starts in one of two buckets: litigation or transactional work.

Litigation means disputes. Commercial lawsuits, investigations, appeals, arbitration, white collar defense, antitrust litigation, IP litigation, employment disputes, and similar work. Litigators research, write, draft briefs, prepare witnesses, manage discovery, and eventually argue or try cases.

Transactional work means deals and business advice. M&A, private equity, capital markets, finance, fund formation, real estate, tax, executive compensation, and similar work. Transactional lawyers draft documents, run diligence, negotiate terms, manage closings, and help clients structure business moves.

This split is imperfect, but useful.

If a firm asks whether you are litigation or corporate leaning, they are usually asking which side sounds more natural to you right now.

Corporate does not mean one thing

Students often say they are interested in corporate law. That can mean several different jobs.

M&A. Buying and selling companies. Juniors review diligence materials, draft parts of deal documents, track checklists, and help deals close.

Private equity. Similar deal work, but often for private equity sponsors and portfolio companies. The pace can be fast, repeat-client driven, and document heavy.

Capital markets. Helping companies issue stock or debt. This includes IPOs, bond offerings, disclosure documents, securities rules, and coordination with bankers.

Finance. Loan transactions, credit agreements, leveraged finance, and debt structures. The work is technical and documentation-heavy.

Fund formation. Helping investment funds organize, raise capital, and comply with investor and regulatory requirements.

Those are not interchangeable. If you tell every interviewer you are "interested in corporate," be ready for a follow-up.

Litigation also splits quickly

Litigation has its own branches.

Commercial litigation. Business disputes, contract cases, shareholder litigation, and other civil matters.

White collar defense. Government investigations, internal investigations, DOJ and SEC matters, and compliance-related issues.

Antitrust. Merger review, competition investigations, litigation, and counseling about market power.

Appellate. Appeals, Supreme Court work, major motions, and legal strategy.

IP litigation. Patent, trademark, copyright, and technology disputes.

Litigation often attracts students who like writing, oral advocacy, factual investigation, and legal argument. But junior litigation work can involve a lot of discovery and document review, so learn the day-to-day before you romanticize it.

Regulatory practices sit between worlds

Regulatory practices can be confusing because they are not always litigation or deal work.

Examples include:

• financial services regulatory
• healthcare and life sciences
• environmental and energy
• data privacy
• telecom
• national security and CFIUS

These groups help clients understand rules, respond to agencies, structure transactions around regulatory constraints, and sometimes defend investigations.

If you liked policy before law school, regulatory work may be worth understanding.

What to ask attorneys

You do not need to ask, "What practice area should I choose?"

Ask better questions:

• What does a junior associate do in your group during a normal week?
• How did you decide between litigation and transactional work?
• Does your office staff juniors into one group early or let them sample?
• What kinds of students tend to enjoy your practice?
• What surprised you about the work once you started?

Those questions produce better answers than "What is the culture like?"

What to say in interviews

If you are undecided, say so clearly.

Example:

I am still early, but I am trying to understand the difference between deal work and disputes. I am drawn to writing and factual problem-solving, so litigation interests me. I am also curious about how corporate groups move transactions forward. I am hoping to use the summer to learn which environment fits me better.

That is better than pretending to have a fully formed practice preference.

If you do have a lean, connect it to something real:

• prior finance work
• a policy background
• an undergraduate science or engineering degree
• a clinic
• a professor
• a concrete conversation with an attorney

The bottom line

Before OCI, you need vocabulary, not certainty.

Know the big buckets. Know a few sub-practices. Know what you want to ask. Then use firm conversations to learn.

Start with litigation versus corporate, what corporate lawyers do, and how to choose a practice area.