Different Types of Lawyers
There are many types of lawyers out there. The major ones are trial attorneys and transactional attorneys. Among trial attorneys, two major types are criminal attorneys and civil attorneys. Finally, one lesser-known division is attorneys and lawyers – yes, there is a difference, although in the USA it is hardly known.
A quick note on internal law firm structure:
Partners, Associates, and Independents
In larger firms, there is division by partners and associates. The associate is a regular attorney who simply works for a law firm, usually for a salary which depends on how many hours he or she bills each year. Quite often in top law firms, the associates are required to bill 1800-2300 hours annually. It is a lot because for each billable hour there is also the non-billable time involved.
Associates are workhorses doing lots of down to earth legal work in their offices. They meet with clients too, go to court but all depends on law firm and seniority of their position. A large law firm can have junior associates or senior associates, and their hourly rate may depend on that difference.
Some law firms recently introduced the concept of a shareholder – an associate that receives a share of the law firm’s profit. Probably, to keep them interested in working hard – as an incentive. And to keep good talent in the firm in the event they are contacted by recruiters trying to persuade them to change law firm.
Associates can bill clients anywhere from $150 to $450 or more per hour.
Partners are like dukes or local lords – they are partners and share law firm’s profits with other partners. In large firms, this can be millions of dollars each year for each partner. Partners can bill clients anywhere from $450 to $2000 or more per hour for their work.
But, in large firms’ partners essentially live at work, sometimes visiting home to see their families. They work 80-hour weeks easily. Associates too. Money in law does not come cheap.
In smaller law firms’ annual earnings can be much less than that. For example, in small law firms’ partners can bill “only” $150-$350 per hour. Well, a small law firm can consist only of a few partners and no associates.
Those numbers are rough estimates – hourly rates vary greatly in the legal field, depending on a law firm, ability to find clients, years of expertise, type of law, etc., etc.
Most Common Types of Lawyers
What shall we start with? I want to offer my classification of different types of lawyers (attorneys in the USA). First of all, there is a difference between term “attorney” and “lawyer”, although, the vast majority of the public and legal community essentially incorrectly disregard the difference.
You can read about this controversial detail in my previous article on this blog. Let’s start with this trial vs. transactional attorneys and other attorneys.
Trial Attorneys – Largest Group of All Types of Lawyers
Well, first and foremost, attorneys are advocates for clients, and they advocate for clients in front of courts or arbitrators. In other words, attorneys represent interests of their clients in court or other legal proceedings, including in proceedings conducted by boards of state and federal government administrative agencies.
But mostly in courts. Those attorneys are usually called trial attorneys and they are divided by two major categories: civil litigation attorneys, or civil litigators, and criminal attorneys.
Civil Litigation Attorneys
They can be called civil litigators, litigators, trial lawyers (attorneys), litigation attorneys, and they represent interests of their clients mostly in state or federal courts across the country.
This type of attorney is probably the core of the legal profession and essentially is the most important group for the legal system. This is so because the US legal system is based on competition among both sides, on precedents set by courts of diffident levels, where essentially all issues are litigated.
Litigation is huge in the US. Civil litigation probably employs more attorneys than any other sector of the legal industry. Among different types of lawyers, this army is probably the largest.
Civil litigation is a huge sector and involves knowledge from many other areas of law. One attorney, even good one, cannot possibly know it all. Most importantly, civil litigation attorneys must know the rules and procedures of the courts where they do most of their work.
Because of the large set of rules and laws involved, civil litigators often focus on one or a few niches of the law. For example, foreclosure defense attorneys and creditor’s rights attorneys are often litigators, and each of these two subtypes usually focuses on representing only certain types of clients.
Creditor’s rights attorneys usually represent such creditors like banks or credit unions, including in foreclosure court cases. Foreclosure defense attorneys, on the opposite, usually focus on representing homeowners.
Creditor’s rights attorneys can be paid anywhere from $150 to $450 per hour or more because creditors often pay well. Foreclosure attorneys are often paid based on a monthly flat fee – this seems to be the industry standard. The monthly fee can range anywhere from $400 to $1200 for each home.
Others can focus, for example, only on asbestos litigation, on securities fraud litigation, on class action lawsuits, on civil rights litigation, and so on. Personal injury, car accidents – those can be major niches to focus as well. And many more.
The exotic ones are, for example, mesothelioma attorneys, because those cases are relatively rare, but payouts and settlements can be significant.
State, Federal and Appeal Focus of Civil Litigation Attorneys
US court system consists of the federal court system and court systems of each state. Some issues (disputes) are litigated (resolved) in state courts, other in federal courts, depending on the law.
There are civil litigation attorneys who focus mostly on state court work. Others focus on federal court work. They usually know their respective niches extremely well.
But many such attorneys also operate well in state court and federal court. I have seen attorneys who, for example, specialize only in appellate work by taking work from other attorneys to appeal. I mean, it is all about the business niche – each attorney decides what he or she wants and if they can focus on something smaller.
Funny enough, only about 97% of cases go to trial. Their rest is decided before trial by either settlement or won by technicalities through a process that is called “motion practice” – when attorneys long before a case goes to trial submit different competing motions to court asking the court to do this or that according to rules, and a court may rule for one party or another at that stage before the case even is set for trial.
Then a party can appeal the decision of that court to a higher court of appeals.
It is worth to know that many cases are won not on merits (not based on justice or underlying – “substantive” – law) but on technicalities (based on “procedural” law). For example, a party does not respond in time or does not provide evidence in time and the court can rule against the party.
The Reality of Civil Litigation
Being a litigation attorney is not easy at all – there are millions of substantive and procedural rules to remember. Also, some are paid well, but others not. Because not every client can pay an attorney $150-$450 an hour or more.
Litigation attorney has a special mindset, set of skills – not every attorney can be a litigation attorney. Litigation attorney’s brain is wired differently. I have done work for a tax attorney who used to work as a litigator and hated every minute of it.
I also worked for a successful transactional/entity law firm, whose founder, an expert in transactional law, tried litigation for a brief period and realized it just was not his thing.
At the same time, I have met litigation attorneys who enjoyed litigating and loved doing that. It depends on the preferences of each individual.
Criminal Attorneys
Criminal law is a special area of law and criminal lawyers are also a special breed. As far as I know, the majority of criminal attorneys focus almost exclusively on criminal law, with some exceptions. They also may have additional expertise. For example, a criminal law attorney often needs to know criminal law implications in the immigration context.
Criminal attorneys primarily focus on defending those accused of crimes. Some attorneys take almost all vases, others set own restrictions for certain types of cases. Even within criminal law attorneys can specialize even deeper. I have encountered criminal defense attorneys almost exclusively specializing on DUI (driving under influence – drunk driving) or illegal substance (drugs) and firearms possession.
At the same time, because criminal attorneys operate courtroom pretty good, I have seen attorneys who practiced both civil litigation and criminal defense about 50/50.
But I have not heard of attorneys doing both criminal law and transactional law, for example.
As far as I know, criminal lawyers quite often create own specialized criminal defense law firms. Criminal defense law firms usually do not grow too big like some civil law firms which may have thousands of attorneys working for them. Criminal law firms are often smaller in size, or as solo attorney operation.
I will not go much further into details of criminal attorney’s work and life, because there are whole books and movies about that – more than about civil litigation. Maybe because the criminal process is always a drama and civil process most of the time is boring.
The special breed of criminal attorneys is prosecutors. Yes, they are government employee attorneys who represent the state against criminally accused and they are essentially also criminal attorneys who are on the side of the government – of “the people.” That is why criminal attorneys who are on the side of defendants usually are prudently called criminal defense attorneys.
Civil Rights Attorneys
Civil rights attorneys protect on behalf of their client’s rights granted by the federal or state Constitutions and the law – mostly fundamental rights. But, not all of them are doing it for free, and often laws allow these attorneys to earn money collected form government or business entities which violated those laws – attorney’s fees.
Often major federal laws allow for such fees to ensure that indigent (poor) individuals who cannot afford lawyers still could get legal representation when their fundamental rights are violated.
Civil rights attorneys are essentially litigators because most of civil rights work is done in courts.
Civil rights are a hit or miss, essentially. If attorneys lose in court – they may not get any fees at all. Therefore, they usually carefully vet cases that make it into their offices.
Transactional Attorneys
Transactional law essentially is anything commerce or business that is not litigation. Money too, according to Wikipedia. It can involve corporate law, real estate law, contract law, intellectual property law, commercial law, banking, tax, bankruptcy, and more.
Transactional lawyers usually focus on practice not related to visiting court or litigating. I already mentioned that many transactional lawyers hate doing litigation.
I worked for an innovative company formation law firm and that was pure transactional work. Corporate attorneys doing corporate law are usually also focused on transactional law and companies outsource litigation to outside litigation law firms or litigation attorneys.
In the transactional area, while there is no litigation involved, there may be lots of negotiations involved. For example, there can be plenty of negotiations in the process of mergers between companies, or when a company “goes public” – a process for a company to start issuing shares which will be publicly traded on stock exchanges. These deals can go on for years sometimes.
Drafting a will is also transactional work. However, immigration law should not be considered transactional work, unless some business or money or commercial issues are involved in an immigration case.
Bankruptcy Attorneys
Bankruptcy law is transactional law, not litigation. But I singled out these attorneys because of few important things. First of all, they also can be divided into two groups – those representing borrowers (debtors), and those representing creditors.
Bankruptcy is more complicated than one may think. Because debtor can be individual with few assets and few debts, or it can be a wealthy individual with millions worth of debts and hundreds of creditors fighting for a piece of cake. Each creditor usually has own attorney in that case.
Also, a debtor can be a company and if the company is large enough – millions, tens of millions, or even billions of dollars’ worth of assets could be at stake. I tend to think that attorneys representing creditor’s rights can make more money on average. But, attorneys representing poor and broke debtors probably will go to heaven (just kidding).
I used to know personally two, bankruptcy attorneys. The first one was representing debtors and made about 150K-200K per year. The other one was representing creditors. He was big shot bankruptcy (insolvency) attorney was likely racking up millions per year.
But it takes lots of smarts to get to that level. Many attorneys complain that there is no money in bankruptcy law. It may be true – bankruptcy preparers eat their cake offering bankruptcy filings in simple cases for less money. Well, that is what I call the free market.
One more thing. Larger bankruptcy cases may involve lots and lots of litigation called the adversary process. It is litigation within a bankruptcy case. Usually, it can be triggered by creditors who dispute the debtor’s allegations or debtor’s discharge, etc. So yes, lots of litigation in larger bankruptcy cases.
We discussed private-sector lawyers above – those who work for private individuals and businesses. Now let’s touch on the public sector and government attorneys.
Public Interest Lawyers (including civil rights attorneys)
Public interest attorneys work for public interest clients or employers – usually, non-profits or government. Such lawyers could organize in a firm, as usual, but with the primary purpose of serving the needs of underrepresented communities or groups of persons – public interest. https://law.yale.edu/student-life/career-development/students/career-pathways/public-interest
Often such public interest lawyers resolve disputes related to relationships between individuals and governments, federal or local. These are the types that I described above – civil rights attorneys. See, civil rights and public interest are closely overlapping and such attorneys can either work for the government or against the government.
For more type of such work you can read here from Harvard law school https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/opia/what-is-public-interest-law/public-interest-work-types/
So, public interest lawyers also can work for the government – because the government serves (or, supposed to serve) the needs of the public. For example, public defenders working in county public defender’s office are public interest attorneys and they provide legal representation to indigent criminal defendants who cannot afford a private criminal defense attorney.
Granted, public defenders do not make not much money – as low as about $35,000 per year. But many of them will gain valuable experience, and then move into private criminal defense practice and make loads of money.
Public interest attorneys often make less money than attorneys in the private sector, but this is not always the case – some payouts are huge and fees are good.
For example, private attorneys prosecuting a large class-action lawsuit against the large business on behalf of the public are also called public interest lawyers because they often advance some core rights on behalf of the class (group selected by certain common characteristics) of people they represent.
If they win and obtain large settlement – they could receive their attorney fees in millions of dollars sometimes. But these cases are rare and those attorneys usually are highly proficient and experienced litigators.
But again, in most scenarios, public interest attorneys make significantly less money than they could make in private practice.
Public interest lawyers serve a great variety of issues members of the public face. From civil liberties to discrimination, to eviction defense, to immigration issues – they serve all those. Many non-profits serve the public on those issues, and public interest can work for them.
Therefore, working for non-profits will yield less money but may also allow gaining valuable experience.
Public interest lawyers working for the government may have some perks like vacations, insurance coverage, sick days, etc., which private lawyers do not have. At least, this may compensate for troubles. Therefore, let’s move to government attorneys.
Government Lawyers – a special kind among types of lawyers
Government attorneys are special. Yes, I already mentioned public defenders – they are government attorneys. But there many more types of lawyers working for the government. Not only state agencies but also federal agencies hire attorneys. Those positions are usually very competitive and often they do not even hire out of law school.
Why? Because working for the government may be prestigious. The job often offers good benefits, interesting work, stable permanent position – a rarity in the legal world. Plus, you get access to government power.
Government attorneys often advance the interests of a government and the public – duh. For example, government attorneys at IRS, EPA, Justice Department, and other agencies may pursue court lawsuits against large companies and high-net-worth individuals. Some of those cases become high profile cases.
Other government attorneys just make sure everything complies, draft legislation, prosecute crimes (Attorney General’s office), and do much more. The government also employs law school graduates or ex-lawyers in non-legal positions.
For example, good foreign language skills required by the government, good law school, good grades, etc., may get law graduate a job as FBI special agent or state department diplomat, or OSHA employee or NSA or CIA employee.
But let’s get back to lawyers. Government attorneys for big agencies I mentioned usually are very good attorneys who go through serious recruitment filter. That is why the government pays them well and trains its attorneys very well. But, they will not be, making as much as partners in large law firms.
You can read more about types of government attorneys here https://www.americanbar.org/groups/government_public/
But they are often happy with their government jobs. Sometimes, the ex-government attorney goes to work for a large company or lobbyist firm and starts making real big bucks there.
State agencies also treat many of their attorneys quite well. Those are numerous state agencies from the state attorney general or solicitor general offices, to a local country or municipality legal departments. Large cities like Los Angeles and New York have pretty large legal departments. By the way, the Attorney General is usually the main advisor to the government.
One thing to note is that it seems that being a government attorney involves knowing a thing or two about politics. Real politics, not just office politics. Seeing the big picture is important for a government attorney career path.
Conclusion About Types of Attorneys
These are the main types of lawyers – a basic overview. There are numerous specialties and concentrations and types of lawyers that are too specific to mention in one article. Books worth hundreds of pages were written about legal career paths for young attorneys.
From immigration lawyers to personal injury lawyers or lawyers for White House – those are different careers requiring different mindsets.
Whatever you are trying to get from this information, just remember that generalizations do not apply to attorneys. Especially, when it comes to the annual salary. Some lawyers barely make a living (seriously), and others make millions per year. Law is a business, essentially, even public interest law is business in a way, because those lawyers need to eat something.
The only generalization I can think of is that all attorneys must be smart, preferably quick-thinkers who think on their feet, or who think deeply and can-do good analysis of issues, events, and people. So, no attorney job is an easy one. Law is inherently not an easy subject – too many changes happen all the time. Many lawyers leave the profession because of burnout.
Nevertheless, the “attorney” or lawyer” definition still has some magical clout around it. Knowledge of law does give attorneys some power in society. But, just make sure you find a good one for yourself and you are good.
