BCG Attorney Search
Comprehensive Attorney Practice Area Guide
Contents Alcohol Beverage Law Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 1 Antitrust and Competition Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 2 Bankruptcy Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 4 Construction Attorney . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 5 Corporate Attorney (General) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 7 Data Privacy Attorney . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 8 Employment Attorney . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 10 Energy and Oil & Gas Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 11 Environmental and Land Use Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 13 ERISA/Executive Compensation Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 15 ERISA Litigation Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16 Family Law Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 17 Finance - Banking Attorney . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18 Finance - Project Finance Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 19 Finance Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 21 Food & Drug Administration Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 22 Government and Government Relations Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 23 Government Contracts Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24 Health Care Attorney . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25 Immigration Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27 Insurance Coverage Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28 Insurance Defense Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 29
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Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Intellectual Property Patent Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Intellectual Property Patent-Hard Sciences Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Intellectual Property Patent-Life Sciences Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 35 Intellectual Property Trademark/Copyright Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 36 International Trade Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 38 Litigation Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 39 Litigation-Tax Attorney . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41 Municipal Law Attorney . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 43 Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Hard Sciences Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 44 Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Life Sciences Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Real Estate Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47 Tax Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 48 Technology Transactions Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 50 Telecommunications Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 51 Trusts and Estates Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 52 White Collar Crime Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 53 Workers’ Compensation Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 54
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BCG Attorney Search Comprehensive Attorney Practice Area Guide Summary: Learn more about some of the biggest legal practice areas in these mini guides.
Alcohol Beverage Law Attorney What Do Alcohol Beverage Law Attorneys Do? • This practice area involves the law as it relates to alcoholic beverages like wine, beer, and spirits. • Attorneys who work in this area assist wineries, breweries, distilleries, and other members of the alcohol beverage industry in complying with laws and regulations about the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages. • Alcohol beverage lawyers provide guidance on issues such as taxation, trademark and licensing, environmental compliance, and trade practices. • They also negotiate and draft warehouse, storage, and vendor agreements. • Many attorneys in this practice area have backgrounds in the government. • Most attorneys in this practice area have an interest in this industry. Why Do Alcohol Beverage Law Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • People who like this practice typically enjoy working at the intersection of government and business. • They like the fact that this is an industry that is fairly recession proof. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Alcohol Beverage Law Attorney? • The attorneys who leave this practice typically do so because they do not like a government bureaucracy. • They may also dislike the fact that it is difficult for many attorneys in this industry to stay busy consistently.
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How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Alcohol Beverage Law Attorney? • This is not a tremendously popular practice, and there is never a lot of demand from law firms for attorneys in this practice area. • This is a difficult practice area for attorneys to move laterally in because there are not a lot of firms that do this work. • To be successful in this practice area, attorneys should get a lot of business and fast. • You need to have a real interest in this work and be committed to it to survive. • The skills you learn here are unlikely to be all that marketable to many law firms.
Antitrust and Competition Attorney What Does an Antitrust and Competition Attorney Do? • This practice area covers antitrust and unfair competition law, both in the United States and internationally. • Antitrust and competition law regulates businesses at home and abroad to promote competition and competitive market practices. • Attorneys who practice in this area address legal issues that arise under antitrust laws such as the Clayton Act and the Sherman Act. • They also provide advice on matters such as monopolies, conglomerations, merger controls, pricing limitations, marketplace competition, price fixing, unfair competition, unfair restraint, tying, dawn raids, Cartel investigations, and the European Union Competition Law. • The work in these cases tends to be quite high stakes and may be either civil or criminal in nature. • A large number of attorneys in this practice area are originally from the Department of Justice. • The contacts they have within the DOJ are helpful for understanding the best way to handle individual cases. Why Do Antitrust and Competition Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • The attorneys in this practice area tend to be quite intelligent and enjoy tackling sophisticated issues. © BCG Attorney Search
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• These cases tend to involve economics, market analysis, statistics and other disciplines to see if there are issues. • Because these are matters on behalf of huge clients and often “bet the company” matters, they are easy for attorneys to bill a lot of hours on. • Most of these matters never go to trial, and this is not a practice area that is good for people who enjoy going to trial. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Antitrust and Competition Attorney? • These matters can often last for years. • They involve large matters and attorneys can spend weeks or years working on issues that may not ultimately matter or be that important. • A major danger of these cases is that attorneys in these practice areas may be in a “feast or famine” role for a long time. • If a matter goes away, the attorneys will be left without anything to do. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Antitrust and Competition Attorney? • There is some demand for lateral attorneys in this practice area, but it tends to be very high end. • Unless you are very intelligent and have an excellent background, you are going to have a very tough time succeeding in this practice area. This is a practice area for the “big boys” because it is so intellectual and the stakes are so high for big companies with a lot of money to spend. • To succeed in this practice area, you need to make a name for yourself inside of a very prestigious firm early in your career. • You need to impress people inside the firm and get them to take you under their wing. • As a partner, you need to stick out and be seen as brilliant by companies and your peers to get this work. • Very few attorneys succeed in this practice area, and almost all of the attorneys work in either Washington, DC or New York City.
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Bankruptcy Attorney What Does a Bankruptcy Attorney Do? • The practice area focuses on what happens when individuals or companies experience financial difficulties and go bankrupt. • Bankruptcy law provides for the development of a plan that allows a debtor to resolve debts through the division of assets among creditors. • There are different bankruptcy proceedings available to debtors, including reorganization and dissolution. • Bankruptcy cases are litigated in the United States Bankruptcy Courts, and cases are filed under Chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13. • This practice can involve counseling clients that are considering going bankrupt, as well as representing clients that are in bankruptcy. • The work involves litigation-related tasks, drafting various loan agreements, restructuring documents, and similar documents. • Attorneys can also go to trial in these cases; however, the trials are not standard jury trials. • This is also a countercyclical practice area that is busiest when the economy is at its worst. Why Do Bankruptcy Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • This is a good practice area for people who enjoy negotiation and gamesmanship. • There is a lot of deal making done in this practice area, and attorneys tend to do more business-oriented work than general litigation attorneys. • Attorneys in this practice area also have more marketable skills than many other types of attorneys because there is a lot of very specialized learning for attorneys to master before they become bankruptcy attorneys. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Bankruptcy Attorney? • Attorneys who do not enjoy bankruptcy typically do not enjoy litigation, the complexity of the work or the fact that the fast-moving cases can demand long hours and a massive amount of time.
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• Attorneys become frustrated by this practice area because judges have a great deal of discretion regarding the arguments they will hear and attorneys need to frequently defend against meritless arguments. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Bankruptcy Attorney? • This is a good practice area because it is a relatively small bar and in addition to major law firms, there are also much smaller and well-regarded boutiques that do this work as well. • This is a countercyclical practice area, and this means that when the economy is good, it can be difficult for these attorneys to find work. In fact, in all but the [worst] economies, bankruptcy attorneys worry about work. • A major drawback of this practice area is that there are consistently very few jobs and it tends to be very difficult for attorneys to move laterally and searches often take some time. • On the flip side, most bankruptcy attorneys always end up getting jobs because while firms may move slowly, there is always some place that will hire them. • Most large, general practice law firms maintain at least one or two bankruptcy attorneys in most of their offices when they get over 100 attorneys, because work comes in and they could always get a big case. • At the senior level, there is some stability that attorneys get in larger law firms because they always want to have someone around. • Most of the significant work is done in New York, and smaller markets are more difficult to get jobs in.
Construction Attorney What Does a Construction Attorney Do? • This practice area involves the law as it relates to commercial and residential building construction projects. • It involves issues arising from contracts with engineers, architects, contractors, subcontractors, and the government, as well as code and land use laws. • Construction lawyers sometimes hold engineering and architecture degrees in addition to law degrees. © BCG Attorney Search
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• Construction law may involve litigation-related work, or it may involve more of the counseling side. • Most attorneys in this practice area will do litigation. Why Do Construction Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • This is a strong practice area for people who enjoy real estate-related law but would prefer to work in a less transactional role and more of a litigation-related role. • Construction attorneys must enjoy contracts, real estate, and land use work and be familiar with all of these disciplines and also be ready to litigate. • This is a good practice area for attorneys who enjoy working with lots of parties and are not afraid to be adverse to anyone. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Construction Attorney? • Most attorneys who do not enjoy construction law tend to also not enjoy litigation. • Most of the clients of construction attorneys tend to be small to large developers and construction attorneys often report difficulties getting paid their fees from these parties. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Construction Attorney? • There is a healthy lateral market for construction attorneys, but this is not one where recruiters tend to be as involved. • The issue with this practice area is that the salaries and the quality of the attorneys are not as important as they are in many other practice areas and this means that there is a large supply of people willing to do the work that law firms can choose from. • The practice area is popular in areas of the country where there is a lot of construction activity. • Most of the work that construction attorneys are involved in tends to be residential and not commercial-related work, and this keeps fees low.
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Corporate Attorney (General) What Does a Corporate Attorney Do? • This practice area focuses on general corporate work. Corporate law includes entity formation and corporate governance. • Corporate work includes the creation of different kinds of entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships, as well as helping companies comply with ongoing governance and regulatory issues. • Corporate generalists typically deal with multiple different types of corporate-related work. • On the West Coast (particularly Silicon Valley), corporate attorneys tend to work more with private companies; they counsel technology companies, do venture work, securities, and IPOs. • On the East Coast, there tends to be more public company-related work and the practice area tends to be much more specialized. • Many generalists serve as outside general counsel to companies. Why Do Corporate Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys enjoy being generalists because the work tends to be quite collaborative. • There is a lot to learn to be a corporate attorney (it can take several years), and this creates a high barrier to entry in the field. • This is a good practice area for people who like business, money and working directly with companies. • Corporate attorneys are the most likely to be able to get in-house positions. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Corporate Attorney? • The work that corporate attorneys do is often referred to as “glorified clerical work” because the work is often quite clerical in nature. • The best corporate attorneys excel at finding the things that can go wrong in transactions, contracts, and other deals. • Because they are trained to see the negative, they are often viewed as hindrances to getting things done.
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How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Corporate Attorney? • When the economy is good, corporate attorneys are often in strong demand. • Regarding the ability to lateral between states, cities and even countries, corporate is probably the best practice area to be in. • This is also a good practice area for attorneys interested in business and making a lot of money. • When the economy is slow, it can become more difficult for corporate attorneys to move laterally and there are a lot of layoffs. • This is a very difficult practice area to start a career in because attorneys can get laid off and lose their jobs early in their careers and never get the training needed to become seasoned attorneys. • This is the best practice area for attorneys interested in building a book of business. • Because corporate attorneys tend to advise their clients on an ongoing basis about a variety of issues, they typically can get spin-off work (litigation, real estate, tax and so forth) that they can send to other attorneys in their firm.
Data Privacy Attorney What Does a Data Privacy Attorney Do? • This practice area focuses on the storage and management of information within computer networks and cyberspace. • Data privacy lawyers focus on complex and evolving laws and regulations that govern everything that happens in connection with data transmitted and stored on computers, including consumer protection laws, privacy laws, and e-discovery issues. • Attorneys who practice in this area provide legal advice on issues such as cyber security, online privacy, data mining, data breach protocols, and the law as it relates to web technologies, mobile platforms, emerging technologies, information technology, e-commerce, e-business, mobile payments, competitive intelligence, and trade secrets.
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Why Do Data Privacy Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy this practice area tend to enjoy technology and working with technology-related topics. • They enjoy understanding and seeing how the law applies to emerging technologies and working with evolving areas of law. • Attorneys in this practice area often attend conferences and work collaboratively with attorneys in other firms sharing information about the evolving nature of this law. • Because the work is quite specialized, it is often easier for attorneys to lateral in this practice area than other practice areas. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Data Privacy Attorney? • People that are not interested in technology tend to be somewhat repelled by this practice area. • The work in this practice area tends to be somewhat sporadic, and many attorneys have a difficult time staying consistently busy. • For that reason, there is often not enough work to justify paying senior associates and making attorneys a partner in larger law firms. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Data Privacy Attorney? • This is a good practice area for attorneys to lateral in if they have strong qualifications (schools and their prior firm). • This practice area tends to go in fits and starts and is busiest when the economy is expanding and then slows down (often to a complete standstill) when the economy slows down. • Although this practice area is developing, it is a fairly risky practice area for attorneys because there are not a lot of partnership opportunities and there is not a high barrier to entry and learning the work. • The projects for clients also tend to be smaller, and this means that it is difficult for law firms to scale up the practice area (with several attorneys) for various matters and generate large bills. • This practice area is limited and a difficult one for attorneys to make names for themselves, or become very successful financially doing.
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Employment Attorney What Does an Employment Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on legal issues that arise from the employer/ employee relationship. • It includes thousands of federal and state laws dealing with how workers are treated and paid and includes minimum wage laws, laws regarding meal and rest breaks, workplace safety, discrimination, disability accommodations, unemployment compensation, labor law, and collective bargaining. • Employment involves a mix of litigation and counseling. • In most large law firms, the majority of the work is litigation-related because this generates the highest bills. Why Do Employment Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Many attorneys who enjoy this work report liking the counseling aspect of the work a great deal. • Because many cases involve defending employers against discrimination, there tend to be a lot of attorneys that have faced discrimination in this practice area. • Because the work is specialized, there is a healthy market for lateral attorneys in employment law. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Employment Attorney? • This work is often quite emotional, and clients and others can become very upset. • The billing rates of most employment attorneys are much lower than other practice areas, and for that reason, the work is often not profitable for large law firms and this makes it difficult for attorneys to make partner. • Attorneys who do not enjoy litigation, emotions or conflict tend not to like this practice area very much. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Employment Attorney? • This is a strong practice area for lateral attorneys, and employment attorneys are generally in demand at all points in time.
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• One problem with this practice group, however, is that it tends to not be that profitable for most major law firms (except wage-hour class actions) because the billing rates that firms charge for this work tend to be lower (since much of it is routine and not complex). • This is a safe practice area for attorneys to be in and there are opportunities for strong employment attorneys at all points in time. • The one drawback is that the compensation attorneys make in this practice area tends to be lower.
Energy and Oil & Gas Attorney What Does an Energy and Oil & Gas Attorney Do? • This practice area deals with energy projects and oil & gas law. • Energy law focuses on the efficient harvesting and use of energy sources, including traditional, renewable, and alternative energy sources. • Oils & gas law covers the acquisition and ownership of rights in oil and gas under the soil and after capture. • Attorneys who practice in this area provide advice on regulatory law and policy as it pertains to energy use and prepare the legal documents involved in power purchase agreements, as well as documents in connection with titling, mining, transportation, refinement, and sale of minerals, oil, and gas. • Sometimes attorneys who practice in this area also provide advice in the area of commodities trading activities that relate to oil and gas contracts. • Energy is typically divided and thought of as old and new energy. • Old energy deals with gas, electricity, and oil and new energy deals with deregulated natural gas as a commodity. • New energy deals with the monetization of energy and commodities related to energy (swaps, derivatives and so forth). • This practice began with the deregulation of the natural gas practice. • Most of this work is in Oklahoma and Texas. FERC regulates the new energy practice area and there is some FERC litigation in Washington, DC.
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• The older energy practice deals with mineral rights, eminent domain, exploration, production, working with geologists, and offshore drilling. Why Do Energy and Oil & Gas Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • People who enjoy doing energy work typically enjoy the fact that it often deals with sophisticated finance as well as dealing with various assets. • This is also a very good practice area to go in-house from since there are not a lot of attorneys trained in this work. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Energy and Oil & Gas Attorney? • Attorneys who do not like this practice area often complain that there is not enough work. They are either very busy, or they are not. • When oil prices are high, for example, an oil and gas attorney might have a lot of work. When they are low, the work may dry up. • Attorneys in this practice area are often frustrated by the lack of work. • Due to frequent consolidation in the industry, it is often difficult for even partners to hold on to work and for firms to build significant and sustainable practices. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Energy and Oil & Gas Attorney? • This practice area tends to be difficult for attorneys to lateral in because there are historically not a lot of opportunities. • While it is difficult for attorneys to lateral in this practice area, it tends to be easier for them to build a book of business than in many other practice areas. • In fact, when energy prices are high there is a lot of work to go around, and attorneys pick up a lot of work. • This is a developing field, and there are opportunities for people attracted to it. • From the standpoint of a career choice, though, it is very risky because attorneys are tying their future to markets that can change on a whim. • When the energy market is not doing well, many attorneys in this practice area lose their jobs, and the work can dry up for partners as well. • Few major law firms have large energy practices-or can sustain them as well as they might other sorts of practices.
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Environmental and Land Use Attorney What Does an Environmental and Land Use Attorney Do? • This practice area deals with federal, state, and local laws and regulations that pertain to the earth and its natural resources. • Environmental and land use lawyers address the way people and industries such as commercial and residential building developers, industrial and manufacturing companies, and conservationists utilize the land and its resources. • Attorneys who practice in this area provide legal advice on matters such as air and water quality, pollution, oil spills, emissions, pesticides, asbestos, wetlands, waste, toxins, hazardous substances, environmental cleanup, landfills, zoning laws, and the protection of animals and their habitats. • Environmental and land use lawyers also provide advice on matters that arise under federal laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Quality Act, Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Act, and Migratory Bird Act, as well as similar state laws. • They also help prepare environmental impact statements. • Attorneys in this practice group may represent public interest groups with environmental concerns, or they may represent large companies being sued or challenged for development projects (or they may counsel these companies). • Environmental attorneys are typically involved when there are large real estate or project development deals that could affect the environment. • This can also be a fairly emotional practice area because nature, fish, animals, homes, and businesses can be impacted. Why Do Environmental and Land Use Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy fighting to protect the environment often enjoy this practice area a great deal because they feel they are accomplishing something. • Attorneys defending large corporations often also enjoy the work and can bill massive hours to the companies they are representing. • Much of the information is also scientific and attorneys who enjoy science also are attracted to environmental law.
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What Are the Difficulties of Being an Environmental and Land Use Attorney? • Among those suing companies on behalf of public interest groups, the work can be exhausting and demoralizing because the attorneys are often outgunned by huge law firms representing massive corporations that win most of the time. • Regarding defending and counseling companies, attorneys face the same stresses as litigators. • This has been a slow and dying practice area since the early 1990s, and there are not a lot of opportunities on the defense and counseling side anymore. • The work for one client can often keep attorneys inside of a law firm busy for years. • When these sorts of cases are over, the attorneys inside the law firm are often left with nothing to do and need to find new jobs. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Environmental and Land Use Attorney? • This has typically been a dying practice area and very difficult for attorneys to lateral into, or get into the inside of law firms. • There was a time when this was a booming practice area in the late 1970s through the 1980s, but the work that drove this boom has largely gone away. • Very few large law firms do significant work here anymore, and the practice area is a difficult one for attorneys. • There are not a lot of opportunities to lateral into major law firms and have not been for some time. • There are some pockets of success in major law firms, but these tend to be small pockets of attorneys in these firms and these attorneys are often concerned about their futures. • From a lateral perspective, when there are opportunities there are often only a few attorneys who are qualified for them. • This can make getting these jobs less difficult for a qualified candidate than it could be in other practice areas. • Notwithstanding, there are far more attorneys who would like to practice environmental law than there are attorneys that can find jobs inside of law firms doing the work.
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• This is an exceptionally difficult practice area to get into, stay employed in, and lateral in.
ERISA/Executive Compensation Attorney What Does an ERISA/Executive Compensation Attorney Do? • This practice area covers everything having to do with employee benefits and executive compensation plans, including the law surrounding the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”). In addition to providing advice on ERISA matters, attorneys who practice in this area assist clients with understanding and complying with other federal and state laws relating to employee benefits and benefit plans. • ERISA and executive benefits attorneys provide advice on legal issues about ERISA, employee benefits, health plans and health insurance issues, disability plans, retirement plans, pension plans, executive compensation plans, profit-sharing plans, stock bonus plans, stock options, separation issues, and 401K plans. Why Do ERISA/Executive Compensation Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • This practice is not adversarial and involves a careful review of various plans. • There is a right answer to most legal issues in this area and this provides a level of “certainty” that is not present in most practice areas. • Also, the hours can be predictable because most of the work is not on tight deadlines. • This is a good practice area to move laterally between firms or go in-house from and there is demand for these attorneys at all points in time. • Many of the clients that law firms represent are “institutional” in nature and in this space they tend to be quite loyal to their law firms. • This can provide stability for attorneys to move up as well. What Are the Difficulties of Being an ERISA/Executive Compensation Attorney? • This work can be predictable, and therefore some attorneys find it boring. • There is not a lot of room for creativity since the practice is so rule driven, and many attorneys may not like that.
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• This tends to be a small practice area in most law firms, and due to this there is not a lot of opportunities for attorneys to become a partner, or if they do, they are income partners and not equity partners. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an ERISA/Executive Compensation Attorney? • This is a very popular practice area for attorneys to lateral in and there are typically a fair number of opportunities in most major markets at all points in time. • Also, this practice area has the added benefit that even lateral attorneys who are more senior (and do not have a book of business) can move laterally, or find positions if unemployed if they are flexible geographically. • This has always been a fairly healthy lateral market because the expertise that attorneys have here is so rare.
ERISA Litigation Attorney What Does an ERISA Litigator Do? • This practice area involves litigating cases involving ERISA issues in federal court and in administrative agencies. • The trials in these cases typically do not involve any factual disputes and are based on a written record. • There are rarely depositions and very little discovery. Why Do ERISA Litigators Enjoy Their Jobs? • This is a good practice area for attorneys who enjoy lots of specialized research and writing. • There is not a lot of contact with people in this practice area, and therefore the attorneys doing this tend to be introverted and enjoy working on their own. What Are the Difficulties of Being an ERISA Litigator? • This is a narrow practice area and people who do this work need to be comfortable in a very confined practice area.
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How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an ERISA Litigator? • This tends to be a very difficult specialty to lateral in, and there are not a lot of positions for lateral attorneys.
Family Law Attorney What Does a Family Law Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on civil matters relating to issues that occur with the family unit. It includes matters such as divorce, alimony, paternity, the emancipation of children, domestic violence, child custody cases, property division upon divorce, and constitutional issues, such as defining marriage. • Attorneys also assist in dealing with the financial and tax consequences resulting from their clients’ divorces. • Most of the work is found at very small firms and boutiques. • A few large law firms maintain a practice to service their wealthy clients, but this is rarer and rarer. • Family law is highly emotional and requires attorneys be willing to tolerate the highly charged emotions that characterize family matters. • Most of the clients are individuals and not companies. Why Do Family Law Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who like family law are typically most comfortable assisting individuals and learning about their issues. • They like the personal and one-on-one nature of the work. • The majority of family law attorneys are comfortable with conflict and the stress involved in this sort of work. While the legal issues can be complex, most are not. • Accordingly, attorneys tend to function and succeed more on their personality and presence than on substance compared to other practice areas. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Family Law Attorney? • This work can be extremely stressful, and burnout is common.
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• Attorneys must deal with highly-charged emotions and stress. • The work can also feel very repetitive to many attorneys, and because the work is done mainly on behalf of individuals, it can be difficult getting paid. • The highly emotional nature of this work is upsetting to many attorneys, and it can be highly contentious as well. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Family Law Attorney? • There are lateral positions in this practice area-some even filled by legal recruitersbut due to the intimate size of these practice groups and the firms that do this work, recruiters are not frequently used. • Also, the quality of an attorney’s academics and the firm is not important for most firms doing this work and therefore law firms often do not require the sourcing of high-end attorneys. • The experience that good family law attorneys get is transferrable quite easily to other family law firms. • Also, this is a relatively easy practice area for attorneys to build a client base in.
Finance - Banking Attorney What Does a Finance - Banking Attorney Do? • This practice area focuses on traditional banking law and the legal aspects of bank lending activity. • Attorneys who practice in this area provide advice on banking laws and regulations and assist their clients with the negotiation and drafting of various contracts such as syndicated credit agreements, security agreements, collateral agreements, inter creditor agreements, and guaranties. • Banking lawyers also provide expertise in connection with senior debt transactions, subordinated debt transactions, acquisition financings, mezzanine financings, multicurrency financings, and cross-border financings. Why Do Finance - Banking Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • This work typically is done at larger law firms (and in New York).
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• The work can be technical in nature and involves issues of contract and banking law. The work can offer attorneys a good opportunity to go in-house, or lateral to another firm. • Attorneys in this practice area tend to be very well compensated. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Finance - Banking Attorney? • There can be tight deadlines associated with this work. • The majority of this work is in major legal markets such as New York, so attorneys in this practice area typically do not have a lot of freedom moving around. • In bad economies, this work can often slow down dramatically, leading to layoffs. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Finance - Banking Attorney? • This is an active practice area at the junior to the midlevel range for attorneys, but it becomes more difficult for attorneys to lateral into firms as they get more senior. • Attorneys in this practice area typically can find positions (in a good economy) quite easily provided they have less than eight years of experience. • The majority of attorneys who go into this practice area go in-house later in their careers.
Finance - Project Finance Attorney What Does a Finance - Project Finance Attorney Do? • This practice area deals with project finance work and emphasizes the financing, construction, and operation of massive projects around the world, including energy projects that involve power plants, refineries, hydroelectric dams, solar facilities, and wind farms. • Project finance is not limited to energy projects. • It also covers the financing, construction, and operation of large infrastructure projects such as airports, toll road systems, water treatment systems, railroads, and telecommunications systems. • Attorneys who practice in this area provide advice on legal issues that arise in connection with the projects, interface among the many parties involved in these
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often international transactions, and negotiate and draft the complicated contracts needed to complete massive energy and infrastructure projects across the globe. Why Do Finance - Project Finance Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy project finance like the fact that it is international in nature and can involve a lot of travel. • Attorneys in this practice area are often interacting with large companies, financial institutions, and also governments. • There are lots of opportunities for project finance attorneys to go in-house with large international banks. • People who are extremely well organized also tend to enjoy this practice because it requires a high level of organization. • Because of the high levels of technical proficiency needed to be good at this practice area, there is a high barrier to entry, which provides some level of employment stability. • Attorneys in this practice area also can relocate internationally more easily than attorneys in most other practice areas. • There is some international demand for US project finance attorneys. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Finance - Project Finance Attorney? • The opportunities in this practice area tend to be confined to the largest markets (New York, Washington, DC, London, Singapore) and it is difficult for attorneys to relocate geographically. • The projects can often take years to complete, and the work can often become tedious and boring for many attorneys. • When the market slows down, it is extremely difficult for attorneys to lateral to other firms because the number of positions internationally is always quite small. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Finance - Project Finance Attorney? • This is a healthy practice area for lateral attorneys who are younger. • There tends to be opportunities for them in New York, Washington, DC and also internationally (Hong Kong, Singapore and to a lesser extent London).
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• There is a relatively small community of attorneys that does this work and just a few firms as well, and most of the major firms that do this work have attorneys in them that formerly worked for the other. • At the senior level, advancement is difficult for attorneys without significant business. • This is a difficult practice area to have a long term career in unless you are exceptional. • Attorneys who succeed in the long term in this practice area tend to have exceptional qualifications.
Finance Attorney What Does a Finance Attorney Do? • This practice area focuses on the legal aspects of finance work. • Finance law is a broad category that involves any lending or financing activity. • Finance law is largely transaction-based, and finance lawyers represent either lenders such as banks or other financial institutions, or borrowers such as companies, in the negotiation and drafting of loan agreements and related documents. • Finance lawyers often specialize in a particular type of finance law, such as Banking Law, Project Finance, Structured Finance, Transportation Finance, asset securitizations, derivatives deals, and other exotic financing arrangements. Why Do Finance Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy this work enjoy numbers, business, documenting things, and negotiation. • This is a very document intensive practice area that emphasizes details. • This is also a good practice area for people who have good business sense and good relationship building skills. • This is an excellent practice area for going in-house and there are a lot of opportunities for this.
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What Are the Difficulties of Being a Finance Attorney? • People that do not enjoy this practice group typically do not do well with details. • They also may be uncomfortable explaining complex details in easy-to-understand language. • You need to enjoy negotiation to be good at this practice area. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Finance Attorney? • This is a practice area with a healthy lateral market when the economy is doing well. • Attorneys who work in finance are always in demand at the associate level in most major cities during strong economies. • This is one of the easier practice areas to build a business in and also one that is well suited to attorneys who are interested in business and details. • Strong finance attorneys typically have the ability to jump around the country and work in different markets because their skills are enough in demand.
Food & Drug Administration Attorney What Does a Food & Drug Administration Attorney Do? • This practice area category covers legal work specific to food and drug safety and the Food & Drug Administration. • This practice is heavily centered in Washington, DC. • These attorneys counsel companies that are subject to FDA regulation such as companies in the food and beverage, drug, dietary supplement, cosmetic, or medical device industries. Why Do Food & Drug Administration Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • People who enjoy drafting a wide variety of documents and licenses enjoy this work. • People who enjoy being at the intersection of government and business also like this practice area. • There are opportunities to go in-house and this is something many attorneys do in this practice area. • This practice area is also quite recession proof. © BCG Attorney Search
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What Are the Difficulties of Being a Food & Drug Administration Attorney? • This practice area can be frustrating for people who do not like working with government bureaucracy. • This practice area can also be very limiting because there is not a lot besides this work that attorneys in this practice area can do. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Food & Drug Administration Attorney? • This is a very difficult practice area to lateral in - especially outside of Washington, DC. • There is not a healthy market for attorneys with this expertise; however, there is a market. • Since this is a relatively small bar, many of the attorneys know each other and attorneys may enjoy the sense of camaraderie and cooperation that comes from working in this practice area. • Because of the narrowness of this practice and the low number of attorneys doing the work, it is not overly difficult to build a book of business.
Government and Government Relations Attorney What Does a Government and Government Relations Attorney Do? • This practice area covers lobbying work and the representation of federal and state governments and their agencies. • Attorneys who work in this area provide advice on a host of issues that pertain to government affairs, lobbying, legislative law, budgets and fiscal matters, regulatory compliance, political law, and election law. Why Do Government and Government Relations Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy being personable, meeting others and who are friendly with others typically do well in this practice area. • You need to be interested in government and policy and have a good understanding of people to succeed here.
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• If you are well connected, there are lots of opportunities both inside and outside of law firms (as lobbyists, in government and so forth) available to attorneys that do well here. • Attorneys like the sense of accomplishment that comes from being participants in pushing certain laws and policies through. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Government and Government Relations Attorney? • This practice area is not good for people who are introverts, or do not like a lot of socializing. • You must also have a “natural” interest in government and policy and feel strongly about it. • You must be comfortable advocating for laws and policies you may not agree with. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Government and Government Relations Attorney? • This is not a healthy lateral practice area because it tends to be driven by individuals and not large teams of attorneys. • This practice area tends to be focused in state capitals and in Washington, DC.
Government Contracts Attorney What Does a Government Contracts Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on the intricacies of contracting with the federal government. • Government contracts law is comprised of all the statutes, cases, rules, regulations, and procedures with which any company must comply to do business with the government (whether municipal, state, or federal). Why Do Government Contracts Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • The body of law that covers government contracts law is immense and constantly changing.
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• There is a strong need for attorneys in this practice area, and there is big money (the Federal Government is the largest consumer of goods and services in the world) involved in many contracts, which makes attorneys skilled in this practice area necessary. • The work that government contracts attorneys do is somewhat recession proof. • Attorneys in this practice area may do both counseling and litigate bid protests, contract claims, and other matters. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Government Contracts Attorney? • This practice area is frustrating for attorneys who do not enjoy the bureaucratic nature of government. • Attorneys in this practice area also may be frustrated by the fact that there are typically not a lot of lateral opportunities available and that the majority of the work tends to be centered in Washington, DC. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Government Contracts Attorney? • This is not a very active lateral market for attorneys. • The majority of the work tends to be in Washington, DC and it is very difficult for attorneys to lateral to other markets. • Despite all of this, attorneys who become experts in this area of law are in demand. If they cannot lateral to another law firm they are often well received by large in-house companies.
Health Care Attorney What Does a Health Care Attorney Do? • This interdisciplinary practice area category focuses on the various entities and legal issues implicated by the world of heath care, such as hospitals, doctors, long-term care facilities, medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and medical transportation companies. • Health care lawyers do everything from ensuring that health care providers are in compliance with health care laws and regulations, to helping medical facilities buy and sell each other, to assisting with the construction of brand new facilities.
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• The practice can be transactional (general corporate, provider counseling), litigation, and regulatory-oriented. • The work is often very regulatory in nature. • The corporate practice tends to be high margin while hospital representation is less so. Why Do Health Care Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • The attorneys who enjoy this practice the most tend to enjoy the subject matter a great deal. • This is a good practice area for going in-house and there is a need for healthcare attorneys inside of hospitals all around the United States. • Attorneys in this practice area can be exposed to exciting and evolving issues in healthcare law. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Health Care Attorney? • A lot of this work is service oriented in nature (providing advice to hospitals, for example) and this is low margin work, which makes it difficult to make partner. • Most of the large law firm practices have traditionally been in Washington, DC; however, they are increasingly being found in other areas of the country as well. • Many attorneys complain that at a lot of the work is repetitive in nature (for example, disputes regarding medical reimbursement, fraud, regulatory compliance and so forth). How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Health Care Attorney? • This is a very healthy lateral practice area. • There are opportunities for healthcare attorneys in most major cities and even many smaller ones. • This practice area requires a level of training and expertise that relatively few attorneys have. • Attorneys at all levels find the market quite receptive to them. • It is not uncommon for attorneys to move from the government to law firms and from in-house to law firms.
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• Even senior attorneys with 20 or more years of experience can find a warm reception from law firms if they are geographically flexible enough.
Immigration Attorney What Does an Immigration Attorney Do? • This practice area category covers national regulation of immigration and migration and includes citizenship and business immigration issues as well as the processes through which people may secure travel, work or student visas. • Most of the work is done for individuals (even when they are sponsored by companies). • Most of the work involves drafting documents, going to immigration court, and counseling clients. • Most of the law firms that do this work tend to be small because the work is consumer facing and it is difficult for law firms to scale this work. Why Do Immigration Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Immigration attorneys enjoy the personal aspect of this work. • They typically help keep families together and reunite them. • Because the paying clients are most often individuals with limited budgets, the cases are often leanly staffed and provide the opportunity for young attorneys to get a lot of experience early in their careers. • This is also a good practice area for attorneys to start their practices in and there is a consistent demand for attorneys with this experience. • Large law firms are increasingly providing immigration-related services to their clients, and this is becoming a more and more popular practice area for attorneys to lateral between large firms in. • The niche nature of this practice area and the fact that few attorneys do it also makes attorneys with good credentials highly marketable. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Immigration Attorney? • This practice area is highly statutory and very bureaucratic, and this frustrates many attorneys.
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• The income opportunity of attorneys in this practice area is also typically quite limited due to the consumer-facing nature of the work and the fact that clients are price sensitive. • This practice area can also become very repetitive and tiring for older attorneys who may become frazzled by the work. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Immigration Attorney? • This is a good practice area for attorneys to lateral in. • There tend to be opportunities in most major markets at all times, and some of these are even with major law firms. • Attorneys in this practice area can also often build large books of business through referrals and be marketable from this as well. • Immigration attorneys who are flexible geographically also tend not to have a difficult time finding positions.
Insurance Coverage Attorney What Does an Insurance Coverage Attorney Do? • This practice area focuses on insurance contracts and evaluating what and how much is covered under specific insurance policies. • Lawyers who practice in this area provide advice on matters involving general insurance, gap coverage, surety bonds, and access insurance. • They often become involved in questions of insurance coverage in cases arising from medical malpractice, construction defects, premises liability, fires, floods, and earthquakes. • Most of the work is driven by contracts and questions of coverage. Why Do Insurance Coverage Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy this work feel that it can be intellectually challenging and they enjoy untangling verbiage and interpreting contracts. • People who enjoy contracts and litigation enjoy this practice a great deal.
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• Because the work involves insurance companies and can involve great sums of money, there is often the opportunity to bill lots of hours. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Insurance Coverage Attorney? • Attorneys who do not like arguing over verbiage find this practice area overly cumbersome, tedious and boring. • There is not a very “human component” of this work, and the cases can go on for years and years without anything being resolved. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Insurance Coverage Attorney? • This is a healthy practice area for attorneys to lateral in. • There is a high barrier to entry in this practice area because it takes some time to learn. • Attorneys who do this work can often lateral as more senior attorneys (with more than ten years of experience) without a lot of business due to the nature of the work and demand for attorneys with this expertise.
Insurance Defense Attorney What Does an Insurance Defense Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on the defense of insurance companies when there is a dispute about how much the insurance company is being asked to pay under a policy. Why Do Insurance Defense Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • People who enjoy this work like the fact that there is a lot of work to go around. • Attorneys who do this work develop an expertise and have the ability to move between firms. • There is both high-end and low-end insurance defense work and the jobs on the low end (representing insurance companies in auto accidents, for example) typically do not require attorneys to have great qualifications.
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What Are the Difficulties of Being an Insurance Defense Attorney? • Attorneys who do not enjoy this work may find the positions of insurance companies and their reasons for not paying claims to be distasteful and not like the work for that reason. • Also, at the low end, the quality of attorneys and their work product can be quite poor. • Most of these cases settle out of court, so the attorneys doing this work also often do not get much trial exposure. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Insurance Defense Attorney? • The lateral market for attorneys (at the low end) is typically very healthy. • At the high end, the practice area is not typically all that healthy for lateral attorneys.
Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney What Does an Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney Do? • Intellectual property litigators represent the parties to lawsuits involving patents, copyrights, and trademarks in federal court. • Many trademark and trade secret cases are litigated under state law. • In patent infringement cases, judges hold Markman (claim construction) hearings which can define the scope of litigation fairly early on. • Attorneys research and evaluate not only legal issues but factual issues such as competing technologies and products in the market. • This work can be very high stakes and influence the survival and success of companies. • Because the work is so important to companies, at the highest level, many top firms want their attorneys to have advanced science degrees even when not required for the litigation. Why Do Intellectual Property Litigation Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy intellectual property litigation enjoy learning about new markets, technologies, businesses, and working with experts.
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• This is also a good practice area for attorneys with science backgrounds who may be interested in litigation, but not necessarily patent prosecution. • This practice area can be extremely profitable for law firms on both the defense and the plaintiff’s side and law firms take this practice area very seriously. • This is a very adversarial practice where attorneys will fight hard and companies will pour every resource they can into defending claims. • Law firms and their attorneys can bill a ton of hours on these cases, and plaintiff’s side recoveries in the hundreds of millions of dollars are not uncommon. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney? • Attorneys who do not like this work may not like the fact that this practice is so adversarial. • This practice can also be feast or famine, and law firms can build up huge teams of attorneys to staff cases only to let them all go as soon as a case settles, or goes away. • Attorneys who have no interest in technology also often do not feel that comfortable with this practice and the fact that people are not involved. • The larger cases can also be huge, and on the largest cases attorneys may not feel like they have much input on the sum of what happens. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney? • This practice area has slowed dramatically since a series of Supreme Court decisions in 2011 and 2013 have made life very difficult for patent trolls and slowed a great deal of the patent litigation. • Since these decisions, the litigation landscape with patent litigation has slowed dramatically, and patent litigation has become more of a dying practice area than a growing one. • In prior years, patent litigation was among the busiest practice areas for the largest law firms. Learn more about Intellectual Property law in this article: • Intellectual Property Law Practice Areas Explained: The Differences Between Patent Law, Trademark Law, Copyright Law, Trade Secret Law and Licensing Law Explained © BCG Attorney Search
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• Guide to Intellectual Property Law See the following articles for more information about litigation: • Why Does Litigation Hiring Seem to Take So Much Longer Than Hiring for Other Practice Areas? • Is Contract Work the New Normal for Litigators? • Why Most Attorneys Have No Business Being Litigators: Fifteen Reasons Why You Should Not Be a Litigator
Intellectual Property Patent Attorney What Does an Intellectual Property Patent Attorney Do? • To be a patent attorney, an attorney must pass the Patent Bar Examination. • A science degree of some kind is required to take the exam. • This practice area category focuses on patent prosecution, which is the process by which an inventor secures exclusive rights to an invention in the form of a “patent” with the USPTO office. • Patent prosecutors assist the investor-client with this process. • The patent attorney evaluates whether the client’s potential patent impinges on another patent, defends against opposition to a client’s patent application in administrative trials, and opposes applications that impinge a client’s patent. Why Do Intellectual Property Patent Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who are somewhat introverted tend to enjoy this practice because there is not a lot of interaction with people. • The work is also very detail oriented and requires the ability to study and understand new technologies. • Attorneys who become proficient in this practice area tend to have the ability to take jobs in other states and law firms and move laterally. • There are relatively long deadlines in this practice area, which means that the hours tend to be more predictable.
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What Are the Difficulties of Being an Intellectual Property Patent Attorney? • Attorneys who enjoy working closely with others and do not enjoy extremely technical work tend not to like patent prosecution. • The work also tends to be quite intellectually “taxing” and tiring. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Intellectual Property Patent Attorney? • This has traditionally been a very healthy lateral market for attorneys. From the mid1990s until 2012, it was the most consistently active practice area for attorneys to lateral in—especially for people with hard science degrees. • Post-2010 the market began to slow significantly as more and more attorneys started going into this practice area and the number of highly qualified attorneys willing to do the work significantly outweighed the number of positions in the market. • One benefit of this practice area is that in addition to major law firms that do this work, there are countless small boutique law firms that also do the work. • Due to the number of small firms that do patent prosecution, it is never much of a problem for attorneys to locate positions in the market. Learn more about patent attorneys in the following articles: • Preparing for the Patent Bar • Intellectual Property Law Practice Areas Explained: The Differences Between Patent Law, Trademark Law, Copyright Law, Trade Secret Law and Licensing Law Explained • Guide to Intellectual Property Law • Patent Attorney Jobs: Guidelines for Patent Attorneys Exploring the Legal Market
Intellectual Property Patent-Hard Sciences Attorney What Does an Intellectual Property Patent—Hard Sciences Attorney Do? • This practice area category covers patent prosecution jobs that are focused on the hard sciences, which are electrical engineering, computer science, computer engineering, physics, and astrophysics.
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Why Do Intellectual Property Patent—Hard Sciences Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who are somewhat introverted tend to enjoy this practice because there is not a lot of interaction with people. • The work is also very detail oriented and requires the ability to study and understand new technologies. • Attorneys who become proficient in this practice area tend to have the ability to take jobs in other states and law firms and move laterally. • There are relatively long deadlines in this practice area, which means that the hours tend to be more predictable. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Intellectual Property Patent—Hard Sciences Attorney? • Attorneys who enjoy working closely with others and do not enjoy extremely technical work tend not to like patent prosecution. • The work also tends to be quite intellectually “taxing” and tiring. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Intellectual Property Patent—Hard Sciences Attorney? • This has traditionally been a very healthy lateral market for attorneys. • From the mid-1990s until 2012, it was the most consistently active practice area for attorneys to lateral in—especially for people with hard science degrees. • Post-2010 the market began to slow significantly as more and more attorneys started going into this practice area and the number of highly qualified attorneys willing to do the work significantly outweighed the number of positions in the market. • One benefit of this practice area is that in addition to major law firms that do this work, there are countless small boutique law firms that also do the work. • Due to the number of small firms that do patent prosecution, it is never much of a problem for attorneys to locate positions in the market. Learn more about patent attorneys in the following articles: • Preparing for the Patent Bar
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• Intellectual Property Law Practice Areas Explained: The Differences Between Patent Law, Trademark Law, Copyright Law, Trade Secret Law and Licensing Law Explained • Guide to Intellectual Property Law • Patent Attorney Jobs: Guidelines for Patent Attorneys Exploring the Legal Market
Intellectual Property Patent-Life Sciences Attorney What Does an Intellectual Property Patent—Life Sciences Attorney Do? • This practice area category covers patent prosecution jobs that are focused on the life sciences, which are biology, biochemistry, chemistry, organic chemistry, genetics, neuroscience, medicine and chemical engineering. Why Do Intellectual Property Patent—Life Sciences Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who are somewhat introverted tend to enjoy this practice because there is not a lot of interaction with people. • The work is also very detail oriented and requires the ability to study and understand new technologies. • Attorneys who become proficient in this practice area tend to have the ability to take jobs in other states and law firms and move laterally. • There are relatively long deadlines in this practice area, which means that the hours tend to be more predictable. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Intellectual Property Patent—Life Sciences Attorney? • Attorneys who enjoy working closely with others and do not enjoy extremely technical work tend not to like patent prosecution. • The work also tends to be quite intellectually “taxing” and tiring. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Intellectual Property Patent—Life Sciences Attorney? • This has traditionally been a very healthy lateral market for attorneys.
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• From the mid-1990s until 2012, it was the most consistently active practice area for attorneys to lateral in--especially for people with life science degrees. • Post-2010 the market began to slow significantly as more and more attorneys started going into this practice area and the number of highly qualified attorneys willing to do the work significantly outweighed the number of positions in the market. • One benefit of this practice area is that in addition to major law firms that do this work, there are countless small boutique law firms that also do the work. • Due to the number of small firms that do patent prosecution, it is never much of a problem for attorneys to locate positions in the market. Learn more about patent attorneys in the following articles: • Preparing for the Patent Bar • Intellectual Property Law Practice Areas Explained: The Differences Between Patent Law, Trademark Law, Copyright Law, Trade Secret Law and Licensing Law Explained • Guide to Intellectual Property Law • Patent Attorney Jobs: Guidelines for Patent Attorneys Exploring the Legal Market
Intellectual Property Trademark/Copyright Attorney What Does an Intellectual Property Trademark/Copyright Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on legal work as it relates to copyrights and trademarks. • Clients can secure copyrights with the US Copyright Office for original creative works such as novels, screenplays, paintings, musical compositions, and other art works. Clients can secure trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office for their company and product trademarks and logos. Why Do Intellectual Property Trademark/Copyright Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy this work like dealing with companies and helping them protect their intellectual property. • This work also typically involves projects that can be turned around fairly quickly.
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• This is also a good practice area for young attorneys because they can get up to speed quite quickly on the law and get busy. • A lot of the work involves cease and desist letters and prosecuting trademark applications, which is not overly complex. • There are also not a lot of trademark attorneys out there, so they can be marketable when there are openings. • This practice area supports other practice areas in the firm, and even the largest law firms may only have one or two attorneys dedicated to this work. • One benefit of this practice area is that there tend to consistently be a few good inhouse opportunities around the country at most points in time. What Are the Difficulties of Being an Intellectual Property Trademark/Copyright Attorney? • This can be a risky practice area because it does not require a ton of training to learn. • This means that associates typically do not have long shelf lives in most law firms and their value does not increase as they get more senior. • Law firms tend to cycle through trademark attorneys and then let them go after a few years to hire cheaper ones with lower billing rates. • This practice area is also very dependent on the economy and is only busy when new businesses are starting and law firms are busy. • When law firms are slow, they may let the trademark attorneys go and have patent attorneys in the firm (who tend to be more highly regarded) do the work instead. • This is a difficult practice area to build a career in and very few attorneys do. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an Intellectual Property Trademark/Copyright Attorney? • From a legal recruiting standpoint, there have never been a ton of positions in trademark law. • At any one time, there are very few across the country at major law firms. This is a very difficult practice area for attorneys to last very long in.
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• What is most frightening about this practice area is that in a down economy, or when an attorney loses his or her job (for whatever reason), the attorney may have a next to impossible time finding a position with another law firm. Learn more about patent attorneys in the following articles: • Preparing for the Patent Bar • Intellectual Property Law Practice Areas Explained: The Differences Between Patent Law, Trademark Law, Copyright Law, Trade Secret Law and Licensing Law Explained • Guide to Intellectual Property Law
International Trade Attorney What Does an International Trade Attorney Do? • This practice area covers international trade law, which focuses on the laws of trade as between nations. • This practice area deals with import-export laws, tax laws, trade laws, and laws that are derived from treaties (or statutes) that apply to trade between counties. • Attorneys who do this work tend to be involved in both counseling and litigation. • Clients are counseled on the best way to import or export goods. • Litigation tends to involve defending clients against allegations that they broke various trade laws. • There is also some overlap with intellectual property because American laws are designed to prevent infringing goods from being imported. • Almost all of this work is in Washington, DC. Why Do International Trade Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy this work tend to like the interdisciplinary nature of this practice. • This is also a good practice area where attorneys can deal with large international companies and issues of significance. • Because there is a lot of money involved, attorneys in this practice group can often bill a lot of hours.
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What Are the Difficulties of Being an International Trade Attorney? • The litigation-end of these cases is often very demanding and involves tight deadlines because proceedings must be completed in less than eighteen months. • Most of the work is based in Washington, DC and there are few jobs for attorneys outside of Washington, DC. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as an International Trade Attorney? • This is a difficult position for most attorneys to lateral in. • There tend not to be a lot of positions, and almost all of these are centered in Washington, DC.
Litigation Attorney What Does a Litigation Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on lawsuits and the adversarial processes that take place to resolve disputes in state and federal trial courts, as well as other proceedings like arbitrations. • Litigation work includes motion work, discovery, taking and defending depositions, and trials. • Securities Litigation and White Collar Crime are each special kinds of litigation, as are Appellate Litigation, Tax Litigation, and International Arbitration. Why Do Litigation Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy litigation like writing and crafting creative arguments. • Litigators are also the ones who typically control how cases go and rarely take orders from their clients. • Litigators also tend to be able to bill their clients lots of hours because the work is very time-consuming. • The best litigators enjoy conflict and trying to win arguments about small points. • This is a good practice area in many respects because it is somewhat recession proof; even in the worst recessions, cases do not stop, and the work continues.
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What Are the Difficulties of Being a Litigation Attorney? • Attorneys who do not like litigation are often turned off by the fact that there are constant deadlines, that it is rarely easy to take a vacation because matters are constantly flaring up, and that the attorneys are constantly surrounded by angry people trying to tear each other (and the attorney) down. • Clients get upset when they lose, the other side is constantly attacking the attorney, judges may be rude to the attorney, and more. • There is also a lot of sitting around and waiting in court, travel to and from the court, and sitting in conference rooms in various locations taking depositions, reviewing documents, and so forth. • Unless they have a lot of business, it is very difficult for senior litigators to find positions as well. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Litigation Attorney? • To be attractive to large law firms, litigators need to have exceptional qualifications (grades, schools, clerkships, and firm experience) because credentials assume more importance in litigation than in other practice areas because there are so many litigators out there (it is by far the most popular practice group for attorneys). • Because litigators need the bar to go to court, it is also more difficult for them to move laterally and get positions in other states. • Litigation tends to get busy when the economy is slow (because people sue more in search of money) and then slows down when the economy is healthy again. Accordingly, during healthy economies, there is often a glut of litigators and very few jobs. See the following articles for more information about litigation: • Why Does Litigation Hiring Seem to Take So Much Longer Than Hiring for Other Practice Areas? • Is Contract Work the New Normal for Litigators? • Why Most Attorneys Have No Business Being Litigators: Fifteen Reasons Why You Should Not Be a Litigator
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Litigation-Tax Attorney What Does a Litigation-Tax Attorney Do? • This practice area is focused on litigation that deals with complicated and intricate tax issues at the federal, state, and local levels. • Tax litigators provide advice and advocacy on matters that pertain to controversies that arise under the federal Internal Revenue Code or laws and regulations promulgated by state and local taxing authorities. • Matters addressed by tax litigators involve the gamut of substantive tax issues, including questions involving income tax, employment tax, gift tax, and estate tax. Why Do Litigation-Tax Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • This work can be very intellectually challenging and involve many arcane issues. • Tax litigators enjoy solving issues and have the ability to make many arguments that are typically more creative than in standard litigation. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Litigation-Tax Attorney? • Many tax litigators find that the work can be exhausting mentally. • Tax litigation tends to be highly statutory and some attorneys may not like a statutory-driven practice. • Tax litigation often occurs before tax courts, and the litigation tends not to be as exciting as other types of litigation. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Litigation-Tax Attorney? • There are not a lot of lateral positions in this practice area, and they are difficult to come by. • Because this is an extremely “niche” practice area without a lot of opportunities, it can be difficult for attorneys to find positions. See the following articles for more information about litigation: • Why Does Litigation Hiring Seem to Take So Much Longer Than Hiring for Other Practice Areas?
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• Is Contract Work the New Normal for Litigators? • Why Most Attorneys Have No Business Being Litigators: Fifteen Reasons Why You Should Not Be a Litigator
Municipal Law Attorney What Does a Municipal Law Attorney Do? • This practice area involves the law as it related to counties, cities, towns, and their various local agencies. • These attorneys may also deal with utilities. • Municipal lawyers are also called local government lawyers. • Many municipal lawyers are employed directly by the governments they represent, but others work for private law firms. • Attorneys who work in the area of municipal law provide guidance on issues such as ordinances, bylaws, charters, police powers, public records acts, and freedom of information act requests. • Municipal lawyers also sometimes provide assistance with public and municipal finance projects. • The work is often transactional in nature and may involve contracts, bond, real estate and general corporate work. The work can also involve litigation. Why Do Municipal Law Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who like this practice like the variety of work and also the feeling that they are working with local governments. • There is also a sense of satisfaction that comes from seeing various projects completed. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Municipal Law Attorney? • Attorneys who do not enjoy this practice area are often frustrated that they are dealing mainly with governments and bureaucracy and not companies and individuals.
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• Most of the work in this practice area also tends to be done by boutiques and smaller law firms and not major law firms and this, to some extent, limits the earning potential of attorneys doing this work. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Municipal Law Attorney? • This is a relatively safe practice area to lateral in because there tends to be a steady demand for attorneys with this expertise. • At the upper end, this is a healthy lateral market, and recruiters play an integral role. • Many attorneys in this practice area are also frequently able to generate respectable books of business when they have it or more significant municipal clients.
Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Attorney What Does a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on professionals who assist clients in obtaining patents for their inventions. • They are not lawyers, but both patent agents and technical specialists have specialized technical knowledge in hard sciences or life sciences. • Patent agents have been admitted to the patent bar/USPTO. Why Do Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • People who are somewhat introverted tend to enjoy this practice because there is not a lot of interaction with people. • The work is also very detail oriented and requires the ability to study and understand new technologies. • People who become proficient in this practice area tend to have the ability to take jobs in other states and law firms and move laterally. • There are relatively long deadlines in this practice area, which means that the hours tend to be more predictable. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Attorney? • People who enjoy working closely with others and do not enjoy extremely technical work tend not to like patent prosecution. © BCG Attorney Search
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• The work also tends to be quite intellectually “taxing” and tiring. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Attorney? • This is not an active practice area in the legal recruiting realm because there tend to be more far more highly-qualified technical specialists and patent agents than there are jobs. • Nevertheless, there is a lateral market for patent agents, but legal recruiters are not frequently used because there is just not a lot of demand. • The busiest areas for this work tend to be in Boston and Silicon Valley. Learn more about patent agent jobs in the following articles: • I’m a Patent Agent, When Should I Start Searching for a Job? • Do I Need to Meet the Patent Experience Requirements for Patent Agent Opportunities at Major Law Firms? • What Makes a Strong Patent Agent Candidate?
Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Hard Sciences Attorney What Does a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Hard Sciences Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on patent agents and technical specialists who have expertise in the hard sciences. • Patent agents must be admitted to the Patent Bar, and technical specialists do not need to be admitted. • Most patent agents and technical specialists have advanced degrees. Why Do Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Hard Sciences Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • People who are somewhat introverted tend to enjoy this practice because there is not a lot of interaction with people. • The work is also very detail oriented and requires the ability to study and understand new technologies. • People who become proficient in this practice area tend to have the ability to take jobs in other states and law firms and move laterally.
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• There are relatively long deadlines in this practice area, which means that the hours tend to be more predictable. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Hard Sciences Attorney? • People who enjoy working closely with others and do not enjoy extremely technical work tend not to like patent prosecution. • The work also tends to be quite intellectually “taxing” and tiring. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Hard Sciences Attorney? • This is not an active practice area in the legal recruiting realm because there tend to be more far more highly-qualified technical specialists and patent agents than there are jobs. • Nevertheless, there is a lateral market for patent agents, but legal recruiters are not frequently used because there is just not a lot of demand. • The busiest areas for this work tend to be in Boston and Silicon Valley. Learn more about patent agent jobs in the following articles: • I’m a Patent Agent, When Should I Start Searching for a Job? • Do I Need to Meet the Patent Experience Requirements for Patent Agent Opportunities at Major Law Firms? • What Makes a Strong Patent Agent Candidate?
Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Life Sciences Attorney What Does a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Life Sciences Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on patent agents and technical specialists who have expertise in the life sciences (including biology, chemistry, chemical engineering, biotech, and biotechnology). • Patent agents must be admitted to the Patent Bar, and technical specialists do not need to be admitted. • Most patent agents and technical specialists have advanced degrees. © BCG Attorney Search
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Why Do Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Life Sciences Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • People who are somewhat introverted tend to enjoy this practice because there is not a lot of interaction with people. • The work is also very detail oriented and requires the ability to study and understand new technologies. • People who become proficient in this practice area tend to have the ability to take jobs in other states and law firms and move laterally. • There are relatively long deadlines in this practice area, which means that the hours tend to be more predictable. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Life Sciences Attorney? • People that enjoy working closely with others and do not enjoy extremely technical work tend not to like patent prosecution. • The work also tends to be quite intellectually “taxing” and tiring. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Patent Agent/Technical Specialist Life Sciences Attorney? • This is not an active practice area in the legal recruiting realm because there tend to be more far more highly-qualified technical specialists and patent agents than there are jobs. • Nevertheless, there is a lateral market for patent agents, but legal recruiters are not frequently used because there is just not a lot of demand. • The busiest areas for this work tend to be in Boston and Silicon Valley. Learn more about patent agent jobs in the following articles: • I’m a Patent Agent, When Should I Start Searching for a Job? • Do I Need to Meet the Patent Experience Requirements for Patent Agent Opportunities at Major Law Firms? • What Makes a Strong Patent Agent Candidate?
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Real Estate Attorney What Does a Real Estate Attorney Do? • This practice area category covers everything having to do with real property, real estate, real estate development and leasing. • It includes housing law, commercial development projects, residential development projects, real estate financing, real estate sales, and real estate rentals, as well as the various rights among owners, buyers, and tenants. • This practice also involves government because real estate attorneys also help their clients manage the local and state approval processes. • Real estate law involves finance issues (representing borrowers and lenders) and transactional issues (negotiation and documentation of transactions). • Transactional attorneys deal with helping their clients lease property, purchase and sell property and also deal with issues like easements. Why Do Real Estate Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Real estate attorneys often enjoy the sense of accomplishment from seeing various projects completed. • Many of the projects that real estate attorneys work on can involve large projects that are visible and talked about. • Much of the work on the transactional side can be done and finished quickly, which means work does not languish for months. • There is always a healthy demand for real estate attorneys in most economies, and this provides some level of employment security. • Real estate attorneys also have the ability to go in-house without too much difficulty with developers and other real estate concerns. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Real Estate Attorney? • This practice area can involve work that attorneys find boring and repetitive. • There is a lot of repetition involved with leases, purchase agreements, and other matters that attorneys work on.
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• This repetition is something that can make the work boring and unsatisfying for attorneys after they have been doing the work for some time. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Real Estate Attorney? • This is a very healthy practice area for attorneys to lateral in. • It has a high enough barrier to entry that when firms get busy, they need people to do the work. • This practice area is one where it is also not that difficult for attorneys to attract clients and build books of business once they get to know developers and others. • Attorneys with this experience can also more often move between firms as senior attorneys (without books of business) than they can in other practice areas.
Tax Attorney What Does a Tax Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on the law as it relates to matters of taxation, including corporate tax matters, income tax, and taxes on capital gains. • This work is divided up into federal and state/local tax. • State tax attorneys deal with litigation-related issues (people looking for refunds or appealing an assessment). • Federal attorneys deal with tax controversy (audit and litigation support) and transactional issues (cross-border transactions, M&A support, work for mutual funds, and so forth). • Tax work in major law firms requires that an attorney gets an LL.M. to get extra exposure to various tax law issues. Why Do Tax Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy this work are attracted to the intellectual nature of the work. • The work often requires that attorneys think through complex scenarios very carefully to reach creative solutions. • People who are introverts tend to enjoy tax-related work because there is very little client contact.
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• Many tax attorneys enjoy being the “go to person” for advice on arcane issues of law. • This is also a good practice area to go in-house with and most large companies have a stable of tax attorneys in their legal departments. • The hours that tax attorneys work also tend to be predictable and most tax attorneys tend to have a more predictable schedule than other attorneys. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Tax Attorney? • This is a rule-intensive practice and attorneys need to be versed in rules that are changing almost daily. • Attorneys who do not like this practice area are also often turned off by the fact that it can be very deadline intensive because corporate attorneys will contact tax attorneys for advice at the very last moment. • Tax tends to be a small practice area within most firms which makes it difficult for attorneys to make partner. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Tax Attorney? • This has traditionally been a very difficult area for attorneys to lateral between firms in. • There are typically numerous applicants for each position in the market. • There are a high number of tax LL.M.s and attorneys in accounting firms who are hungry for most positions. • Since tax lawyers typically are in a supporting role for corporate attorneys and tend to be introverted, they often do not generate business at all, but a few get weeded out when they get more senior (this is a very difficult practice area to make partner in). • Also, because the work is so specialized, the majority of the positions tend to be in major markets (New York City, in particular) and tax attorneys generally cannot move to smaller markets.
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Technology Transactions Attorney What Does a Technology Transactions Attorney Do? • This practice area is focused on the law as it relates to software licensing, software transfer, and outsourcing issues. • Technology transactions lawyers assist companies in accessing the different kinds of technologies that are being continually created so the companies can become more efficient and profitable. • The technology transactions area of law combines aspects of both commercial law and intellectual property law and involves reviewing, revising, and drafting agreements in connection with licensing, outsourcing, and strategic partnerships and joint ventures. • The majority of this work tends to be centered in areas where there is a lot of technical work such as Silicon Valley and to a lesser extent New York and Los Angeles. Why Do Technology Transactions Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Attorneys who enjoy technology and negotiation are good fits for this practice group. • Most of the work involves smaller projects, so there is a lot of variety that attorneys in this practice area get. • This is a newer and developing area of the law which attracts many attorneys. • This is a good practice area for attorneys who want to go in-house with technology companies, and there is demand for these sorts of attorneys from companies. • At the junior to midlevel, there is also consistent demand for lateral attorneys in this practice area in busy markets. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Technology Transactions Attorney? • Due to the discrete nature of many of the projects, there is not a lot of opportunities to bill on a continuous basis (like in litigation, for example) and this limits the size of the practice and opportunities for advancement. • This is also not considered a very complex practice and law firms do not have a lot of incentive to make attorneys partner because there are not enough fees involved.
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How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Technology Transactions Attorney? • This has become an increasingly popular practice area in the lateral market and attorneys in this practice area coming from large law firms generally can get interviews all over the country if the economy is growing and the conditions are right - it can be among the “hottest” practice areas there is. • However, when the economy slows down and this work is not popular the inverse is true: The work comes to a complete stop, and there is not a lot of work out there. • This work tends to move in fits and starts, and layoffs are common when the economy slows. • This is a difficult career for attorneys wanting to work in law firms for their career. • It is also a difficult practice area for law firms to scale because clients are often cost conscious with this sort of work.
Telecommunications Attorney What Does a Telecommunications Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on laws and regulations that relate to electronic communications and broadcasting media. • Telecommunications attorneys must be familiar with federal laws regarding telecommunications, as well as rules and regulations promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission. • Telecommunications law is an evolving area of law, and telecommunications attorneys are called upon to provide advice on a host of issues such as wireless communications, video conferencing, and satellite and cable television services. Why Do Telecommunications Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • This is a good practice area for people who like dealing with administrative issues and federal agencies. • The work is also constantly changing and for that reason can be quite exciting. • Telecommunications attorneys are often tasked with advising on developing areas of law. • This practice area offers attorneys many opportunities to go in-house.
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What Are the Difficulties of Being a Telecommunications Attorney? • Telecommunications lawyers may not like the administrative component of the work and dealing with the government on an ongoing basis. • This is a smaller area of practice in most law firms, and this can make becoming a partner difficult. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Telecommunications Attorney? • This has not been an active lateral market for some time. • There was a period in the 1990s when this practice area was extremely active, but since that time it has slowed down a great deal, and there are not a lot of lateral opportunities for attorneys in this practice area. • Most of the positions in this sort of work are in Washington, DC; however, there are typically positions in other markets as well.
Trusts and Estates Attorney What Does a Trusts and Estates Attorney Do? • This practice area category focuses on the laws of trust and estate as they affect individuals and heirs. • It may include aspects of family law, taxation, business law and probate law, as well as questions of community property and joint ownership. • Most of the daily work involves drafting estate plans, counseling clients, and administering estates both in and out of court. Why Do Trusts and Estates Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • This is a good practice area for people who know a lot of wealthy people and travel in those circles (i.e., they are from wealthy families themselves) • People who do well in this practice area also enjoy the complexity that can come from the work and helping wealthy people preserve their wealth. • Also, there are typically not many deadlines. • A lot of the work involves socializing and staying in touch with people who will later refer work.
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What Are the Difficulties of Being a Trusts and Estates Attorney? • This is a difficult practice area to make partner at a major law firm because these practices tend to be small and not that profitable. • Many trust and estates law firms are boutiques because the work may not be that profitable. • Attorneys who do not like the work may have issues bonding with and communicating effectively with clients. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Trusts and Estates Attorney? • Because this is not a particularly profitable practice area for most law firms, there do not tend to be a lot of lateral opportunities in trust and estates. • Most of the opportunities for laterals tend to be midlevel to senior trust and estates attorneys who are taking over and assisting with “legacy practices” of attorneys who are getting senior and ready to retire at law firms around the country. • One nice thing about this practice area, however, is that it is quite conducive to building a book of business since attorneys tend to interact with a lot of people who know people like themselves and refer work.
White Collar Crime Attorney What Does a White Collar Crime Attorney Do? • This practice area focuses on the defense of people accused of “white collar” crimes, which are typically financially motivated nonviolent crimes involving commercial and financial activities, including fraud, corruption, bribery, antitrust violations, securities violations, tax evasion, insider trading, counterfeiting, money laundering, embezzlement, economic espionage and trade secret theft. Why Do White Collar Crime Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • This is a practice group that is similar to litigation and involves a lot of motions, court appearances and tends to involve more trials than most general commercial litigation matters. • There tends to be very close client contact.
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• There are not a lot of white collar litigators, and the bar tends to be quite small. • Attorneys in this practice group enjoy drama, fighting with the government, and winning. What Are the Difficulties of Being a White Collar Crime Attorney? • This can be a high-stress practice because the lives of people may be on the line. • The majority of the clients who white-collar criminal attorneys represent are guilty, and you need to be fine with this. • This is a difficult practice area to break into and many of the attorneys who do tend to have experience working as prosecutors because most of the clients want more senior, experienced people working on their matters. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a White Collar Crime Attorney? • There typically are very few lateral attorney positions open in major law firms for white collar litigators. • Most of the positions that are available tend to be filled with attorneys from the US Attorney’s Office who are recruited there by people they know already working inside of law firms. • This is an extremely difficult area to lateral to another law firm in.
Workers’ Compensation Attorney What Does a Workers’ Compensation Attorney Do? • This practice area focuses on the law as it relates to workers who get injured on the job. • Workers’ compensation attorneys help employees injured on the job get paid medical benefits and wage replacement under insurance or defend insurance companies against such claims. Why Do Workers’ Compensation Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs? • Much of this work is done via settlements. • Attorneys that do this sort of work should enjoy settling cases and also working in a high-volume practice. © BCG Attorney Search
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• This practice area is similar to general litigation but involves a higher degree of contact with individuals that many attorneys enjoy. • This work tends to be relatively recession proof, providing some stability to the attorneys who do the work. • This work can be satisfying for attorneys who enjoy working with people and helping them get compensated when they are injured. What Are the Difficulties of Being a Workers’ Compensation Attorney? • Due to the relatively routine manner of this work, attorneys who do workers’ compensation tend to be compensated on the low end. • The work is very high volume and getting cases done quickly is the norm. • Attorneys doing this work may become frustrated by the unwillingness of insurance companies to pay claims and the dishonesty of many people attempting to game the system. How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Workers’ Compensation Attorney? • This is a fairly easy practice area for attorneys to lateral to other firms in. • Since the quality of the attorneys and the salaries tend not to be the highest, legal recruiters are rarely involved in these placements because there typically is an oversupply of attorneys interested in doing the work.
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