A Look at the Most Valuable Legal Sectors
With the vast array of legal fields available, the disparity in compensation is obvious. Some of the highest paying jobs in the legal industry come from a very select few areas, but what causes such a wide breadth of salaries? One of the biggest reasons for these differences is the demand for a specific field of law. If something is hard to find and there is a high demand for it, sometimes the rates attorneys can charge start to skyrocket. However, often it becomes a balance between how difficult a specific field of law is and the rate of compensation.
One example of a field of law that can have a high payout includes patent law. Patent law is extremely complex, requiring both a law degree as well as a technical degree. Not many people will go to the trouble of getting two degrees. Typically, this type of information is acquired by someone with a background in math or the sciences , such as a chemist or an engineer. This is why many of the highest paid attorneys specializing in the area of patent law are also engineers.
Another area of specialization that pays top dollar is tax law. There are countless rules and regulations connected to taxes. If you have specialized in this area, it’s often a very good idea to include a few extra letters behind your name referring to some of these tax specialties. Tax attorneys must be well versed not only in federal law, which is complicated enough, but they also must keep abreast of every state and local tax law and regulation.
The area of healthcare and elder law is also extremely important, especially since the vast majority of people need a little assistance as they age. In addition to that, if Medicare won’t pay for something, then either the person has to pay for it out of their own pocket or they have to find a way to get it on their own. A knowledgeable attorney can help to ensure that a senior citizen receives the benefits to which he or she is entitled. In addition to that, an attorney can help determine if the person is eligible for Medicaid.
Corporate Law: Big Money in Big Business
Corporate law is, without a doubt, one of the top paying fields of law and for good reason. Corporate lawyers handle issues concerning the rights, obligations, dos and do nots of companies, being involved in commercial matters for their clients.
Based on the type of work performed, corporate lawyers find themselves handling a range of issues. They will be called on to draft and review business contracts, record keeping and documentation, guidance regarding shareholders or company stakeholders, protection of intellectual property, taxes and preparation of financial or other reports as needed. It is also common practice for corporate lawyers to be called upon for advice about market facilities whether it be land, offices, manufacturing and more. In other instances, it can involve overseeing large Merger and Acquisition (events of corporate restructuring that involve three or more parties) transactions by negotiating, preparing and examining such deals.
Corporate lawyers also represent a number of different clients that include corporations, other businesses, public sector organizations, private securities offerings, stockholders and investment banks. They also handle a substantial amount of highly confidential matters that could involve the companies and clients that they are representing. In terms of the issue of payment involved for corporate lawyers, it depends specifically on the area where they are working (whether it is a private practice firm, a government agency, a bank, a legal department, etc.) as well as the cost of billing for specific work.
Litigating Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Claims
A major portion of medical malpractice earnings comes from the contingency fee arrangements lawyers enter into with their clients. These arrangements can yield huge returns on investment for lawyers if their cases settle or are decided in the client’s favor. Settlements in the millions of dollars are not the exception. In Texas, the last medical malpractice verdict (that I was able to find) was $1.5 Million for an OBGYN case in 2011. Personal injury law also earns high margins from contingency fee arrangements. Negligence, products liability, premises liability, medical malpractice, motorcycle accidents, wrongful death, and many other areas, are all personal injury practice areas that yield high financial rewards. In 2016, a trial court awarded a former Texas A&M football coach $10 million for injuries sustained in an auto accident. Nationwide, the best estimates are that one-third of personal injury lawyers earn between $100,000 and $349,000 per year, while up to two-thirds earn more than $100,000 in annual income. In comparison, the average annual salary of all U.S. lawyers is just about $120,000. There is a large amount of understanding and the ability to calculate how one’s life will be affected after becoming injured in a car accident. Many personal injury lawyers are seasoned negotiators and have the intuition to know how much their clients should expect from a settlement or trial verdict. Most of the time, they favor settling or going to court. The job doesn’t require a ton of unpredictable work, but lawyers need a strong stomach for litigation, and there isn’t a huge availability of cases that go to trial each day. Both medical malpractice and personal injury practitioners have to be excellent investigators and litigators. These practice areas require a fine attention to detail and an ability to think critically. On top of these traits is the psychological component to the job. If lawyers don’t feel their efforts are invested wisely, they will begin to feel drained by the cases they handle, and their ability to hang onto those lucrative clients will decline. Businesses like this are highly competitive, as there is a lot of supply and demand for the best legal services.
Big Money for Innovators: Intellectual Property Law
Specializing in intellectual property law (IP) is playing an important role in the increasingly global economy, generating some of the highest incomes of all legal specialties. Some estimate that the growth of IP practice may prove to be one of the most significant shifts in recent decades in legal work. It is difficult to find a category of business or industry for which intellectual property law play no role in the day to day operation. If it can be imagined, conceived or produced, there is probably a corresponding interest in protecting that idea from unscrupulous competition.
The broadest category of the intellectual property specialty is patent law, dealing with the available protection offered by patents and the patent process to inventors, service providers, and producers of physical or intellectual goods. Those who hold US patents are protected from infringement by others for a period of 20 years from the date the patent application is filed, and often seek legal counsel to help determine whether the protection is applicable and advise them of the necessary steps for patent protection.
Beyond patent law, those involved with trademark protection are key players in protecting company or product identity in the face of potential infringement by competitors. This includes establishing the registration and enforcement of commercially valuable logos, symbols and brand names. The trademark specialist also works with those who are seeking trademark registration before the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and those who are threatened with litigation by the USPTO itself for purported infringement by the applicant.
Copyright issues are of key importance to authors of published works, and those who are accused of copyright infringement may need the services of a copyright specialist to protect their interests. Copyright law touches every form of written, recorded or broadcast material, and governs much of the manner in which those forms of creation are marketed and produced for sale.
The enormous growth in demand for intellectual property law derives from the rapid innovation in today’s marketplace that results in ever more creative/processes, which in turn give rise to additional ideas for production and commercialization. Corresponding with this increase in innovation is the dramatic challenges to companies, groups and individuals to ensure they protect the fruits of these innovations against the increasingly aggressive competition for the lucrative harvesting of the resulting profit potential.
Following the Money: The Most Valuable Attorneys
Tax law remains one of the most consistently high-paying fields of practice. The reason for this is that it requires a broad and deep level of knowledge of highly complex local, state, federal, and sometimes international tax codes.
Broadly, there are two areas of tax law for which specialists are in high demand:
Specialization in either of these areas is valuable to clients because of the immense complexity of tax law in general and their wide ranging applicability in the corporate and individual spheres . Corporate offices of major corporations, for example, rely heavily on business tax advisors to provide them with expert insight on business transactions, singularly focused tax codes, and relevant legal ramifications. However, even the most diligent business tax lawyers can’t be experts in both business and personal tax law.
It is this dichotomy that places personal tax advisors in high demand to guide individuals through the often inscrutable and byzantine labyrinth of tax codes. They serve as an invaluable resource for managing the heightened risk individuals face in perceiving tax avoidance strategies as tax evasion and noncompliance.
Real Estate Law: A Solid Investment
Of all the areas of the law, few can match the profits to be made in real estate law. The marketing possibilities for this specialty are endless, as this area of the law does not only involve residential property or townhouses. Commercial properties, such as warehouses, hospitals, shopping centers and hotels also need legal oversight, particularly when it comes to leasing. On the private side of development, there is an interest in ensuring that the buyer has the right to non-disturbance. This means that if a tenant were to declare bankruptcy, the buyer will not suffer a loss from the unfulfilled lease. Local, state and federal construction regulations and oversight are also enhanced with good legal representation, at every step of the game. The relationship between the buyer and seller needs legal oversight, in order to ensure that all documents are filed and properly monitored through the entire period of development and into completion. Regulatory permits and approvals for hotel chains, business campuses, townhouses, condominiums and single family developments all benefit from the expertise real estate lawyers possess. Legal representation is particularly important with respect to real estate transactions that involve housing projects for the homeless or social care facilities. Because real estate offers such a diverse range of possibilities, and given the money that can be earned by all parties involved in any facet of the industry, countless clients are desperate for real estate legal expertise.
Areas of Growth – The Up-and-Coming Sectors
In addition to the highest paying practice areas, there are also some emerging fields where you can do more with less. Both Cybersecurity Attorneys and Cannabis Attorneys are in high demand, and since these fields haven’t hit their peak yet there is a low supply of applicants. As the Cannabis industry continues to grow throughout the United States cannabis lawyers will be difficult to come by, and thus, their salaries will continue to rise. Similarly, attorneys who specialize in Cybersecurity will continue to be more in demand as times goes on. Many internet privacy attorneys have turned to Cybersecurity due to the overwhelming need for these lawyers. Both of these fields already have specializations, but are years away from being fully peaked. Whether or not your interest lies in pursuing a traditional field that comes with higher numbers, or you prefer the idea of joining one of these emerging fields and experiencing career development alongside them, there are strong opportunities for both.
What Accounts for Differences in Legal Earnings?
A variety of factors drive the differences in salary among lawyers. For starters, there’s the geographic location and size of firm. A $160,000 salary in a big Boston firm may not measure up to the same number in Dallas or Denver, where the cost of living is lower, according to Robert Half Legal. New York and London-based firms typically pay the highest salaries, and Chicago, Cincinnati and San Francisco-based firms follow. The trend in smaller cities is for firms to pay less than Big Law firms in larger cities.
Then there’s firm prestige. Lawyers in firms with a great reputation can often command the highest salaries. This is particularly true in big firms, and particularly at the partner level, according to Vault’s 2010 Law Firm Associate Salaries survey.
Reputation aside , the most important factor in salary is a lawyer’s practice area. For example, business and corporate law is one of the top paying fields in the legal industry, paying an average of $138,200. Securities, capital markets and banking takes second place at $121,800. Natural resources takes third place at $117,200 followed by intellectual property at $112,900.
Experience level is also an important variable in law firm salary differences. As a lawyer progresses up the seniority chart, he or she continues to earn a larger paycheck, in part based on reputation, but largely based on the ability to generate revenue for the firm. Finally, education may make a difference in salary, particularly as it relates to prestige. Harvard Law grads admittedly earn top salaries, but many other top law schools do not differ significantly from one another.