<p>Can anyone rank the 3 on the following conditions:</p>
<p>-Most competitive (1 being most competitive, 3 being least competitive)
-Job Security (1 being very secure, 3 most likely to lose job due to saturation)
-Stress level/hours (1 being excellent hours, 3 being cant spend anytime with the family)
-Salary potential (I'm "only" looking for 130-200k...I'm not asking for something ridiculous like 250k).
-Most similar to TV dramas (lol)</p>
<p>If there are any other comments, or if some of them were wayyy too close to call, can you point that out?</p>
<p>I'd say patent law offers great job security, top salaries and more reasonble hours than corporate or criminal law. I assume you have a undergrad and preferably a masters or doctorate in chemistry, biology or engineering?</p>
<p>nope...I'm in high school (lol) but had it recommended to me because I am more into the science/math stuff than literature. I do like criminal law (I think mostly because it seems cool due to the TV series you see, which is wrong), and I still love business, which is why I like corporate law.</p>
<p>But how unmanagable are patent law salaries? And do you know if the work gets tedius at all?</p>
<p>All legal work gets tedious now and then. The best lawyers are not the ones who speak the most eloquently or are fast on their feet. The best lawyers are the best prepared lawyers and that means attention to detail. Attending to detail can be tedious. The problem I see with criminal law - blue collar criminal that is - is that your clients get in trouble at the most inconvenient times - holidays, 2 am, while you're on vacation, etc. You also have lives at stake so the stress is great. Criminal lawyers can make a lot of money, but many do not. Corporate lawyers tend to work very long hours. Don't confuse business with law. Corporate lawyers are not necessarily involved in the business decisions of the corporation. The work they do is very document intensive. Patent lawyers often work in either patent boutique law firms and most large law firms have some patent lawyers. Patent lawyers typically are also registered patent agents and have a degree or an advanced degree in science or engineering. The lawyers at the boutique patent firms make as much as those at their biglaw counterparts. Of course, there are patent lawyers who work for corporations too - pharmaceutical companies, etc. Please don't consider practicing law based on what you see on television - it is not remotely the same. Perhaps you should spend some time watching trials on Court TV if you want to get a better idea of what to expect.</p>
<p>Most people who do criminal law are civil servants; some work for the district attorney's office, and others for the public defender's office. (Many criminals don't have the money to hire their own attorneys.)</p>
<p>Most private attorneys who do criminal law handle a lot of drunk driving cases, drug cases (possession or sale), and domestic violence cases. Those three categories probably accounted for at least 85% of what came up on the arraignment calendars when I was in court for the criminal docket early in my career. </p>
<p>With most criminal cases, the defense attorney's role consists of making a couple of appearances in court, and working out a plea bargain for a client who did what he was accused of doing. (I use the male pronoun advisedly.)</p>
<p>People get in trouble at 2 a.m., but they don't generally call their lawyers until the morning. They might call a bail bondsman at 2:00 a.m., but few law offices are answering the phone in the middle of the night.</p>
<p>There are a few attorneys who specialize in white collar crime, but not that many. White collar workers aren't charged with crimes all that often.</p>