<p>decieving title, bc i'm not entering law or trying to become a millionaire..but out of pure curiosity</p>
<p>which field of law brings in the most money on average?</p>
<p>which field makes the transition into making lots of money, the easiest? ex. criminal law, immigration, etc etc?</p>
<p>obviously becoming rich takes hard work, determination, blah blah blah...just answer the question. thanks = )</p>
<p>Top trial lawyers in compensation claims (look at Senator John Edwards' record) do very well when they sue corporations successfully; criminal defence lawyers who are the absolute best (as with the best in any field) are also highly paid, as seen with O.J.'s "Dream Team". Corporate lawyers have the best base annual salaries.</p>
<p>(thanks fore reply)</p>
<p>because i was sorta-kinda thinking about becoming an immigration lawyer...</p>
<p>seems like the big money in law exists when law meets big money haha</p>
<p>Remember that money isn't everything. I'd rather practice a type of law I enjoy and make less, than the oppsite.</p>
<p>That would be fine if you didn't have 200k debt coming out of law school on top of college loans.</p>
<p>What is rich? How rich do you need to be?</p>
<p>If you must have a 70 foot yacht, a private plane, a 10 room apartment on Park Avenue with the "right" address and homes in the Hamptons and near the mountain of your choice in Utah, law may not be the career for you. Rarely, if ever, does an attorney achieve that kind of wealth simply from working as an attorney. </p>
<p>What does it mean to you to be "comfortable"? What are you looking for?</p>
<p>A career in law can provide many financial rewards, though, as has been much discussed on this board, there are often sacrifices that must be made in terms of personal life and free time to make that kind of money. Where is the tipping point for you -- in other words, where does the money lose meaning for you and where does your free time begin to mean everything?</p>
<p>What will it take for you to be happy?</p>
<p>I think a better question to be asked is which areas of law tend to be the most lucrative? My answer to that question would be practicing law at a big firm in a big city and/or becoming one of those few really well known lawyers who get themselves on TV on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the openings for the latter are few and far between.</p>
<p>i guess that rhetorically but i'll answer anyway lol</p>
<p>comfortable and happy would be...100,000/year</p>
<p>i do not want multiple houses, yachts, etc etc</p>
<p>but a 2 bedroom in manhattan would be nice haha thats all i'm looking for</p>
<p>
[quote]
bc i'm not entering law or trying to become a millionaire..but out of pure curiosity
[/quote]
</p>
<p>...but how much money it can earn you is a factor in your decision about whether to enter law. So though you tried to absolve yourself of the risk of looking superficial, you weren't successful.</p>
<p>Are you willing to work 80+ hours a week for six or seven years (okay, maybe five if you're really frugal) or so, saving money the whole time? If so, then you can have that 2 bedroom apartment in a good neighborhood in Manhattan. A decent two bedroom apartment in a good neighborhood will cost at least a million dollars (now -- add some money for several years from now), and most co-op boards require 25% down plus another 15-20% of purchase price in liquid assets. A condo would cost more but have fewer restrictions.</p>
<p>sallyawp, brooklyn is nice too..hah</p>
<p>i dont know..i guess a better question is, which field of law is the most stable to maximize my chances of findign a steady job?</p>
<p>i mean are certain fields of law easier to find jobs in, than others...</p>
<p>like doctors...doctors are always needed and jobs will be found..but how stable is law? </p>
<p>aside from prestigious firms, </p>
<p>is it cut-throat and difficult to find a job in general?</p>
<p>Brooklyn is indeed nice, too!</p>
<p>Most fields of law will always have work, though the work may differ a bit depending on the economy and trends in different industries and markets. That's why law firms try to hire smart people with good critical thinking and research skills -- because you need to be able to adapt, learn and keep up with changes that affect your clients -- including changes in industries, best practices, laws and regulations and the litigation environment. If you are a good, smart attorney, you will make sure that you become an expert in the new laws, industry changes and litigation landscape that affects your clients. Laws and regulations change all of the time. The competitive landscape will change for your clients constantly. Like any businessperson out there, you need to stay on top of things and continue to learn throughout your career. </p>
<p>In terms of finding jobs in different fields, that won't be an issue coming right out of law school since you will be seen by recruiting law firms (and others who recruit on campus) as a block of clay ready to be molded. (I know plenty of law students who took every family law and elder law class offered by my law school, ignored corporate tax and mergers and acquisitions classes, and still managed to become corporate partners in prestigious law firms.) Again, you will be hired because you are perceived to be smart, flexible and hard-working. That said, as has been much discussed on this Law School Board, it will undoubtedly be easier to find a job, any job, coming out of law school if you go to a better school. Most legal recruiters will advise people considering law school to go to the best law school you get into -- and I think that is excellent advice. Does that mean that you shouldn't go to law school if you don't get into Harvard Law? Absolutely not. Does that mean that you shouldn't go to law school if the best law school you get into is ranked 100th on some list? No. It just means that you will likely have a somewhat more difficult time getting that first job out of law school, and for more competitive or prestigious positions, getting later jobs as well. You can certainly still be a big success, professionally, financially and personally. Plenty of attorneys out there can attest to that. </p>
<p>Let's not forget that the vast majority of practicing attorneys out there did not go to a T14 law school.</p>
<p>thanks a lot for putting time into your responses! i appreciate it</p>
<p>to be honest, i dont know crap about law...</p>
<p>i'm just an undergrad freshman and i know i love education, politics, other languages, history, etc etc so i know i like social sciences...im middle eastern and my parents are immigrants so i thought immigration law maybe interesting but i'm also intimidated by lawyer stereotypes, wealthy, greedy, liar...</p>
<p>is it true that law school is strictly about lsat and gpa?</p>
<p>and i'm on a website....what are the main types of degrees a person can get out of law school? like a juris doctor?</p>
<p>The degree that you receive when you graduate from the three year program in law school (with no prior legal experience) is a J.D. (some schools used to, and I believe that some still do have slightly different titles for the degree). There are no options and no choices. There are also graduate level law degrees, for post-law school work, namely the LLM (a one-year degree typically obtained by foreign attorneys who want to take a U.S. bar exam or by tax practitioners) and the SJD. Again, there are also slight variations in what those two degrees are called.</p>
<p>yea thats waht i saw, llm</p>
<p>thanks a lot for the clarification...btw are you a lawyer or law student?</p>