How do I progress my career as a junior lawyer?I am a lawyer working in a very niche commercial law area, and I am fearful that I have pigeonholed myself into a career that does not have upward mobility. How can I more effectively apply for jobs at top tier firms and transition my career?I have all the credentials, I have billed over $700,000 in the last year, I excel at upselling clients, and I am very personable.Despite these factors, I am stressing that my career is dead in the water. The firm I work at pays almost minimum wage, and I want to improve my situation. All my applications are met with auto-rejections, offers of low pay, being told I am over-qualified, or being told that I am too junior in my career to make the jump to greener grass.Background:I have a Liberal Arts undergrad (double majored in legal studies and journalism), a Law degree, and relevant post-graduate studies.I interned for three years at a mid-tier commercial firm that effectively no longer exists, completed three short contract stints as a paralegal (2 - 6 months at three different firms. Multinational NGO, boutique commercial firm, and a criminal firm). I learned a lot at each of these, getting courtroom experience, flying into and out of other sates for work, and learning the basics. I was made redundant at two when they could not afford to retain any juniors, and the third did not have the financial capabilities to extend my contract.I now also have a little over a year at my current firm. I enjoy the work, however, I am fearful that given how niche it is I might not be growing my career. It is commercial law but a very niche aspect of it.What should I do?
If I was a lawyer, I'd go be a water rights lawyer and try to keep people alive while everything goes to shit out west
>>62128103what does that mean?
are they putting things in the water to make you forget in californy?
>>62128103Ayyy, that's where the real money will be in 20 years. I actually applied to a few clerkships and internships in that area when I was in university but to no avail, sadly.>>62128109What do you mean?
>>62128131it was a half life & blood meridian referencei just don't understand what he >>62128103 means by "things going to shit out west" or how a water rights lawyer would relateare they running out of water?
>>62128140Water rights are currently huge because the farming industry relies so heavily upon them. For instance, imagine you are a winery that falls along a river, and the next farm down is a competing winery. Who gets the water from the river, how much they get, and how much they pay for those rights is massive in ensuring your winery stays open. It could be that you buy the water rights from other properties along the river that do not need to utilise as much water, or it could be that you have to have water shipped in. Either way, disputes happen and lawyers get involved. That in conjunction with the uncomfortable truth that a lot of Western countries do not have desalination plants and do not have adequate supplies in their dams means that when droughts hit there are disputes over water.Some theorise that our future wars will be fought over water rights and arbitration about those rights.
