Types of Lawyers
Like physicians and other highly trained professionals, attorneys specialize and so there are many a type of lawyers as per their specialization. Although the bar exam covers every area and aspect of the law, no attorney ever could expect to retain all the subtleties and nuances in every area. The complex body of knowledge we know as “the law” spreads too far and goes to deep for one attorney to excel at all of it. The one-stop legal assistance websites easily may confuse you, making it appear that you could wander into any downtown law office and find the same array of services. Hence there are many a type of lawyers and in order to represent clients “with zeal” as the canon of ethics requires, attorneys choose single areas of expertise and stay with them. In order to rise to the top of the legal profession, an attorney must practice the type of law that excites her passion and inspires her wholehearted commitment.
Here we will discuss some of the most common type of lawyers.
All of your favorite crime dramas show you slightly exaggerated pictures of criminal practice. A criminal lawyer does not re-enact powerful, ripped-from-the-headlines episodes of “Law and Order” every day; in fact, the ordinary criminal lawyer very seldom takes a case to trial, because litigation runs-up costs beyond most defendants’ ability to pay, and it renders the outcome far too uncertain. Criminal attorneys become far more proficient at negotiating plea agreements than dazzling juries with brilliant closing arguments.
Even within the bigger province of criminal law, attorneys specialize. Many skilled litigators specialize in DUI and traffic law defenses, and many others manage nothing but drug cases. Their specialized training, continuing education, and everyday courtroom experience equip them with tools, tactics, and techniques for protecting their clients’ rights and securing just outcomes in their cases. Moreover, when a criminal attorney specializes in just one kind of proceeding, he or she naturally develops powerful working relationships with prosecutors and judges, so that plea and sentencing negotiations become far less contentious and far more businesslike and productive.
The practice of family law stands out as by far the largest and also the most emotionally taxing of all the legal specialties. One experienced family attorney claims, “The average garden variety divorce has more drama, complication, and heartbreak than a six-pack of standard manslaughters and homicides.” 90% of family law practice deals with divorce and especially with child support and custody issues, but in extreme cases, family law specialists represent children in proceedings against their parents, guardians, or educational institutions. Some experts predict that child advocacy will become more prevalent as educators develop standards of malpractice.
Personal injury attorneys are probably the most notorious members of the legal community, the ones most likely to earn the moniker “ambulance chaser.” “Torts” are the core of personal injury practice: when a person suffers as a result of another’s negligence, recklessness, or malfeasance, the “bad guy” may or may not have committed a crime, but he has committed a “tort,” literally a word for “wrong.” Personal injury lawyers file suit in the civil courts, petitioning for compensatory and punitive damages from “the bad guys.” In very serious personal injury cases, judges and juries may award damages “for the loss of the enjoyment of life.” The headline-grabbing stories usually come from those cases.
