25 Highest Paid Types Of Lawyers In 2024
25 Highest Paid Types Of Lawyers. Depending on your interests and the kind of work you hope to do, certain areas of law may appeal more to you. Understanding the roles and responsibilities of the types of lawyers that exist can help you pursue the specialty you are most passionate about.
Becoming a lawyer may seem straight forward:
- Obtain a Juris Doctor (J.D.),
- Take the Bar examination, and
- Begin practicing.
But with so many different types of lawyers, deciding what kind of law you want to practice may not be such an obvious decision. If you’ve been trying to find a lawyer to help you solve your specific legal problem, you’ve probably realized there are many different types of lawyers.
What Are The Types Of Lawyers In Demand?
1. Intellectual property lawyer
If the idea of working with patents, licensing and copyrights excites you, perhaps you’re cut out to be an intellectual property lawyer. These lawyers do exactly what their title suggests — they protect intellectual property for their client (if necessary) in court. These lawyers also consult on new ways to increase the value of those intellectual property portfolios.
2. Contract lawyer
Contracts come in all shapes and sizes: job offers, leases, mortgages, car purchases, business deals, and personal loans, and the practice of contract law focuses on ensuring that the parties involved in the contracts honor the commitments detailed inside them. A contract lawyer can not only draft the contract but also represent clients in contract disputes in court if necessary.
3. Business Lawyer
Business lawyers (Corporate Lawyer), also known as corporate lawyers, handle legal matters for businesses and ensure that all company transactions occur within the scope of local, state, and federal laws. Common legal work includes mergers, acquisitions, formation or dissolution of businesses, patents, intellectual property, and liability disputes. Day to day, a business lawyer may conduct legal research, write and revise legal documents, and negotiate contracts.
4. Medical malpractice lawyer
If you long to right the injustice for patients wronged by a provider, medical malpractice law is for you. These lawyers focus on determining professional misconduct from the medical professional due to surgical errors, traumas from birth, delays in treatment leading to decreased conditions, medical misdiagnoses, or failure to receive consent.
5. Immigration lawyer
An area of law that may be particularly fulfilling is immigration law. In this field, you analyze the complexity of immigration laws in order to assist those attempting to become citizens. As an immigration lawyer, responsibilities don’t just include interpreting immigration law, but preparing paperwork, gathering documentation, proposing strategies, preparing testimony statements.
6. Personal Injury Lawyer
If you’ve suffered injuries in an accident—for example, a car accident—the type of lawyer you’ll want to see is a personal injury lawyer. These types of attorneys specialize in obtaining compensation in the form of damages for injuries caused by other parties.
7. Employment Lawyer
Whether you’re a company that’s having a problem with an employee, or an individual who’s having problems with the company you work for, an employment lawyer can generally provide advice about legal issues which arise from an employment contract or within an employment relationship.
8. Criminal Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been charged with a crime, a criminal lawyer is the type of lawyer you should turn to. A criminal lawyer will be knowledgeable in areas related to criminal law, including issues related to bail, arraignment, arrest, pleas and any issues relating to the criminal trial itself.
9. Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Doctors do occasionally make mistakes, and if you’re facing the consequences of a medical mistake such as a medical misdiagnosis or inaccurate treatment, a lawyer who specializes in medical malpractice issues can be particular helpful.
10. Worker’s Compensation Lawyer
If you’ve been injured while on the job, or have had to face the death of a loved one as a result of a workplace accident or occupational disease, a lawyer who specializes in workers compensation law can help you navigate the issues you face, such as the extent of the employer’s fault and the amount of benefits to which you are entitled.
Highest Paid Types Of Lawyers in 2024 | What Type Of Lawyer Get Most Paid?
1. Constitutional lawyer
Upholding the state and federal constitution is a quick way to define what a constitutional lawyer does. These lawyers will specialize in the laws, relationships, and rights of their clients that are given to them by the governing constitution and will spend their career taking cases to continually uphold those rights.
Average annual salary: $76,350
2. Securities lawyer
The highest paid lawyer on this list? A securities lawyer. They focus on counseling clients trying to gain capital or advising investors who think were misled during the investment process. Basically, financial investments and the laws and regulations surrounding them fall into this specialty. These lawyers will spend their time gathering documents to stay in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC.
Average annual salary: $228,910
3. Military lawyer
Military lawyers are faced with different laws and regulations than civilian lawyers, as their job is to provide a defense for the service member or spouse facing legal action. These cases are typically handled within a military court, making them quite specialized in nature.
Average annual salary: $76,480.
4. Aviation lawyer
When it comes to operating an aircraft, such as ground facilities, hangars and airports, these would all fall to an aviation lawyer. These lawyers typically represent pilots, airlines, manufacturers and consumers, and can act in both civil and criminal cases.
Average annual salary: $89,680
5. Traffic lawyer
Attorneys who spend their time studying traffic litigation, defending citations or any other traffic violations for their clients would be referred to as a traffic lawyer. If a client chooses to fight a citation outside of traffic court, these lawyers may be called upon.
Average annual salary: $70,780.
6. Digital media and internet lawyer
These are lawyers who handle intellectual property issues, copyright issues, the creation and maintenance of websites, libel and defamation with regard to what can be published and broadcasted. While this is a broad area of law, they focus on broadcasting, publishing, music, film and television, social media, advertising, marketing and theater.
Average annual salary: $51,040
7. Gaming lawyer
Gaming lawyers work with those involved in gaming operations, like lottery operators and casino owners, ensuring compliance with applicable regulations and laws. These lawyers would represent their clients in court but also before state and local gaming regulatory bodies as needed.
Average annual salary: $62,130
8. Environmental lawyer
These lawyers spend their time protecting our natural environments at every turn. Areas such as water quality, proper hazardous waste disposal, preservation of lands, improved energy sources and clean energy, climate change laws and better waste management systems are just a few of the items that would fall to an environmental lawyer, as their job is to advocate for the environment.
Average annual salary: $59,530
9. Civil litigation lawyer
As one of the highest paid types of Lawyers, a civil litigation lawyer is charged with handling disputes where individuals are seeking monetary damages when the case does not include criminal accusations. While the scope can be broad for this area of law, the differentiating factor for these lawyers is that any of their legal proceedings do not involve criminal charges or penalties.
Average annual salary: $76,240.
10. Maritime lawyer
Boating accidents or injuries occurring on open water would fall to a maritime lawyer. Maintaining proficiency in understanding the international rules and regulations of the oceans and seas, or the Law of the Sea, is what will keep this lawyer in business.
Average annual salary: $75,130.
11. Government lawyer
If you have a passion for your government, perhaps representing them in court as a government lawyer is for you! These lawyers may work in different branches of the government, handling all legal issues that affect the state, city or federal government they are representing.
Average annual salary: $126,300
12. Civil rights lawyer
A civil rights lawyer will focus on equal treatment for individuals, similar to human rights lawyers, but different in a few areas. These lawyers focus on prohibiting discrimination in education, employment, housing, and even voting, ensuring that their client doesn’t undergo cruel and unusual punishment, unreasonable search and seizures or job loss due to discrimination.
Average annual salary: $88,580
13. Public interest lawyer
Potentially the broadest area of law is public interest, as their job can span across a wide array of specialties. These lawyers support civil rights and social justices by working on behalf of poorer families, sometimes through a public defender or legal aid office.
Average annual salary: $68,630
14. Entertainment lawyer
In this specialty, you’ll prepare and negotiate contracts specific to production deals, evaluate financial agreements and loan documentation while ensuring clients’ rights are upheld and valued. These lawyers will focus on the entertainment industry, including those in film, television, theater, music and publishing.
Average annual salary: $106,000
15. Mergers and acquisitions lawyer
These lawyers dive into contract law as they draft and negotiate contracts for businesses, as well as a bit of financial law, as they provide advice around the financing involved with mergers and acquisitions. Typical duties of this specialty include identifying and advising on legal issues surrounding the merger or acquisition, creating a plan, conducting due diligence.
Average annual salary: $117,450.
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