The chance is when you search for a lawyer, you have some pressing legal issues such as court trials or need a legal interpretation of specific laws. People need lawyers for different purposes, whether accidents, corporate matters, real estate matters, or immigration.
There are as many attorneys as there are practice areas. You are probably curious to learn how much a lawyer earns, or you probably need one, so you need prior knowledge to avoid being overcharged. It all depends on the area of practice and the cadre to which the lawyer belongs. For example, corporate lawyers are on the higher percentile, while personal injury lawyers don’t earn as much. Continue reading to find out the answer to the question “How much do different types of lawyers make?”
How Much Lawyers Make
This comprehensive list includes several legal counselors and their average earnings. Stick to the end.
Corporate Lawyers
As the name suggests, corporate lawyers deal with business matters since they work for businesses or publicly limited companies. The only obligation of a corporate lawyer is to serve the best interests of businesses and corporations that have contracted them. Apart from being skilled in the laws of their specific countries, corporate lawyers should have business understanding because they may be obligated to take part in the businesses’ decision-making process.
You will typically find one or multiple corporate lawyers on staff in every firm or corporation. Each lawyer has a different field of specialization depending on the types of goods or services the company offers. Some big corporations with multiple lawyers on staff include communications companies, banks, insurance firms, and automotive motorsports shop offering Repairable Salvage Jeeps for Sale. Apart from having business acumen, corporate lawyers should be well versed in employment issues, mergers, trademarks, and acquisitions. They earn an average salary of $110,026.
Criminal Defense Lawyer
A criminal lawyer’s work in the United States is representing those who have criminal cases leveled against them in court. It is the right of everyone accused of a crime to have a lawyer represent them in court. Due to that fact, there are more than enough criminal lawyers to go around. Criminal lawyers undertake most of the tasks people have come to associate with lawyers, such as sentencing hearings, trials, arrangements, and pretrial hearings. Criminal defense lawyers act as a liaison between the accused and the accuser, often making tremendous efforts to have the matters settled out of court. Some cases, though, require court trials.
These lawyers often multitask since they can deal with multiple cases at once, the only difference being the timelines. For example, a criminal defense lawyer will be on the lookout for new evidence, research similar cases while also communicating with witnesses at the same time. These learned friends recruit support staff such as other lawyers, private detectives, and paralegals to help them sort their workload. A criminal defense lawyer earns somewhere between $49,000 and $182,0000, with the average being $80,609.
Divorce Lawyers
Divorce lawyers generally deal with privacy issues such as private relations between community members and also handle divorces. In legal matters, divorce lawyers will invoke state laws as opposed to federal laws in the United States, which means that every lawyer must acquaint themselves with the laws of their specific states. Divorce cases normally are finalized between three months to a year depending on whether there’s a fault or not and how the case was filed.
Divorce lawyers can sometimes be a very sad lot due to some divorce cases’ emotional and messy nature. Divorce lawyers look at a number of aspects during divorce settlements. These aspects include the right to visit the child, marriage annulment, child custody, child support, and division of debts and assets. For example, who takes the vehicle and who will settle water restoration service bills. Due to the sensitive nature of divorce cases, these lawyers should possess a number of unique qualities, including good listening skills, non-bias, and excellent interpersonal skills.
Divorce lawyers pocket an average of 87,636 bucks for representing divorcees faithfully in court.
Immigration Lawyers
If you are a foreigner residing in the United States, the chance is you will enlist the services of immigration lawyers somewhere along the way. These unique lawyers offer their services to immigrants and foreign citizens who must cross paths with the immigration authorities. Immigration lawyers have fewer court hours than other lawyers, since their only role is being a middleman between immigration authorities and foreign citizens.
Some of the basic functions of immigration lawyers include helping foreigners deal with deportation issues, visa applications, naturalization issues, employment issues, citizenship, and green card issues. They spend some time consulting with judges if their client has an immigration hearing. And when criminal law and immigration cross paths, these lawyers will represent the immigrants or foreign citizens in court.
Immigration lawyers earn an average of $67,487, with those in the lower percentile earning $47000 and those in the higher percentile $108000.
Intellectual Property Attorney
Intellectual property lawyers deal with registrations on mental intelligence assets that a firm or person owns. Intellectual properties include digital services, designs, slogans, new movies, or books. For example, if you invent a new formula for brewing ginger tea, an intellectual property lawyer will help you get a patent. Intellectual properties have similar or more value than physical properties since they take time and lots of money to develop before marketing.
Intellectual property lawyers will read and interpret what intellectual law states, draft the necessary paperwork and documents which they will use to file trademark or patent cases in court. Part of intellectual property lawyers’ work includes dealing with a trademark or patent infringement, which means that someone has decided to use your intellectual property without seeking the legal rights to do so from you. Your lawyer will send a stop and desist letter to the culprit or take the company or person to court on your behalf.
IP lawyers earn an average of $128,452, which is a bit higher than their divorce, criminal, and immigration law counterparts.
Law Firm Lawyers
Two or more lawyers may come together and form a legal partnership known as a law firm. Law firms exist to offer their clients advice on different legal responsibilities and rights. The law firm is made up of a hierarchy with business directors and joint owners at the top. A grade lower below them comes the associates who are primarily employees, with the advantage being they can gradually climb the ladder and become partners in the future. The lowest cadre is composed of paralegals who assist with the workload in different cases.
Law firms provide an opportunity for different lawyers, though each law firm typically specializes in one area, such as divorce laws or personal injury laws. Other types of lawyers make up the staff because different laws usually cross at some point. Similar to intellectual property lawyers, law firm lawyers earn a reasonably good income of $100,529 on average. Those in the tenth percentile earn $53,000 while partners pocket $191,000.
Regulatory Lawyer
A regulatory lawyer deals with intricate issues, especially where the government is involved. Big companies often need legal help to sort out regulatory issues in their line of duty. Some of the services an RL offers include permits, various laws, regulations, and rules. If your company gets involved in regulatory issues, you need to keep an RL on retainer.
A regulatory lawyer must have some basic background knowledge of their area of specialization. A lawyer working for a realtor, for example, must have some basic knowledge of land surveying. There is absolutely no room for error due to the complex nature of regulatory issues, and therefore one must be conversant with the industry’s rules and regulations.
You can find regulatory lawyers offering their services in land use, tax matters, and environmental protection. Additionally, this group of lawyers can also specialize at government levels, for example, the federal or state government. A regulatory owner earns $105,600 on average.
Trial Lawyers
Trial lawyers’ responsibility is representing the accuser and the accused in a court of law. If you don’t know one, these are the guys you see in television shows or certain movie scenes portraying legal proceedings. They are good at debating and punching holes in the cases put up before their clients. Whenever they are not in the courtroom, they interview witnesses, fill out multiple court documents, or review files.
Trial lawyers put effort to save their clients expensive trial charges by seeking alternative means of conflict resolution. If, for example, someone’s dental crown comes off accidentally during a scuffle and they sue you, your trial lawyer may negotiate about compensating the guy out of court for a replacement.
To cunningly maneuver and twist the law to favor their clients, trial lawyers should have a background in courtroom law, criminal law, constitutional law, and criminal and civil procedures. They should also keep up with changing lawyers to be effective in their work. A trial lawyer earns anywhere between $58000 and $206000, with $103712 being the average salary.
Real Estate Attorney
A real estate lawyer helps both parties resolve legal issues related to property or ownership of land. Most people who desire to buy property will need the services of a real estate attorney somewhere along the line. Did you know that some state laws demand that a lawyer must close real estate transactions? It is advisable to check with your state whether some rules apply.
Besides taking part in the sale of legal property, real estate attorneys also deal with cases involving the realtor, appraisals, foreclosures, and division of family assets.
To put it simply, a real estate lawyer deals with any matters pertaining to real estate, both residential and commercial. Real estate companies have a lawyer on retainer to help them navigate the legal intricacies of property sales. Real estate attorneys get to go home with an average of $118,000.
Personal Injury Lawyer
PI lawyers fight for the rights of the injured and their families. The victim needs compensation for the injuries, while the family may need compensation because their incapacitated kin may have been the sole breadwinner. For example, if you drive earthmovers for a painting company and an accident occurs, you can enlist the services of a personal injury lawyer.
Your lawyer will gather the actual facts from you and use them to create a strong case that you were not responsible for your injuries. This will help you get compensation through a fair settlement or successfully winning a verdict at trial. The company will also be responsible for repairing damage caused, such as forklift repair.
Personal injury attorneys represent their clients in court for all sorts of accidents, though people mostly associate them with vehicle accident injuries. On any given month, a personal injury attorney takes home $73000.
Bankruptcy Lawyer
A bankruptcy lawyer helps companies or individuals with the complex procedure of filing for bankruptcy. The federal law governs bankruptcy rules and regulations as the state lacks a legal mandate regarding matters of bankruptcy. As such, individual preparations for bankruptcy paperwork are next to impossible without advice from a bankruptcy attorney.
A bankruptcy lawyer will interpret the law that pertains to filing for bankruptcy for the debtors. Chapter 7, 11, and 13 contains the federal government’s bankruptcy laws. The lawyers will help their clients navigate through each section’s requirements, disadvantages, and benefits.
You now see that you will need an attorney’s legal counsel to prepare the paperwork and legal representation through bankruptcy hearings. Bankruptcy lawyers get $113,000 on average as compensation for discharging their duties.
Bottom Line
There are different types of lawyers divided according to their area of practice. Every lawyer specializes in legal matters in a certain field such as criminal law, corporate, personal injury, real estate, trials, regulatory laws, immigration and customs, intellectual property, and divorce laws.
Lawyers’ salaries depend on the cadres, with those in the tenth percentile earning as low as $58,000 while those in the highest percentile earning as much as $206,000. With this information, you are better armed to budget for a lawyer or put one on retainer.