As you can see, there is a lot of variation in the average salary by practice area, especially as you get to the middle of the list. The highest-paid lawyers earn on average much more than the lowest salaries. For example, intellectual property lawyers have a higher than average annual salary. On the other hand, an immigration lawyer has a salary at the lower end.
The quality of life is not good for great lawyers, but that is why they are paid “a lot of money. As you can see, the disparity there is greater than the average salary between a patent lawyer and a divorce lawyer. Many people assume that the highest-paid lawyers are corporate lawyers. While corporate lawyers can earn millions of dollars, personal injury lawyers, criminal lawyers, and lawyers in other areas of law can also earn millions of dollars.
However, different sources list other figures for various specializations. Some of the discrepancies may be due to factors discussed above. For example, the terms “patent lawyer” and “intellectual property lawyer” are considered interchangeable in many contexts. Real estate lawyers help their clients in a variety of ways with regard to commercial and residential real estate.
Issues related to tenants, neighbors, zoning and real estate development are also included in the framework of the real estate law. Real estate transactions require a considerable amount of complex legal documents, so most real estate lawyers spend quite a lot of time in an office reviewing and drafting contracts and other documents, and preparing consultations for their clients. Meticulous document writing is a key skill in this job. Attention to detail and strong analytical skills are an absolute necessity for real estate lawyers who want to perform well in this field.
Real estate lawyers also represent their clients in court. A typical property law case could involve a landlord who is suing a tenant for unpaid rent. Real estate lawyers file court documents, collect evidence to support the claim, and interview witnesses to make sure their client has a strong case. It is interesting that lawyers in major cities are paid much more than lawyers from outside major cities.
But you generally won't see an Atlanta personal injury lawyer handling a real estate transaction, or an estate planning lawyer trying to close a large corporate merger. When you think of medical lawyers, malpractice immediately comes to mind, but these lawyers also deal with other areas of health care and personal injury law. A personal injury lawyer's salary is often based on the amount of money the lawyer recovers for an accident victim. Personal injury lawyers work with clients who allege physical or psychological harm as a result of another party's negligence or misconduct.
Generally, Biglaw lawyers are paid on the Cravath Scale, an associate compensation system based on the number of years as practicing lawyers and are paid to New York lawyers working at Cravath, Swaine& Moore LLP. For example, many personal injury lawyers are motivated to help injured people receive the compensation they deserve.
