For all those late nights studying for the bar, not to mention the money you’ll need to pay back your student loans, salary is naturally an important consideration when it comes time to choose a legal career. You deserve a high return on all your hard work, and you have serious debt to pay back after school. You may want to make the world a better place, but you need to make good money doing so. This guide can help you find the highest paying areas of legal practice. e.
Getting solid figures on what legal specialties pay can be difficult as there isn’t much financial data available. Even lawyers don’t like to discuss their salaries openly. When the National Association for law Placement publishes its annual review of legal salaries, even they won’t break figures down into the different branches of legal specialties.
Private Firms
Most lawyers will agree that private firms will often start their new employees at a set salary, regardless of what specialty they’ve been hired under. Careers will naturally center on a particular legal specialty as they accrue, like a contract law attorney position, but pay depends on economic factors as well as market demand for the work at any given time.
In-House Attorneys
Typically, in-house lawyers will make higher salaries than those working for a firm. The financial service industry is one of the highest paying, simply because that’s where the money is and money always has legal issues. Patent lawyers, especially those with chemical, pharmacological or electrical engineering backgrounds, also enjoy considerably high pay.
Follow Your Own Interests
You may interview for one specialty, but there’s no guarantee you’ll end up working that specialty for the firm that hires you. In the end, it’s best to pursue that angle of law that interests you. Following your own passions instills greater love in your career. If you love what you are doing, you’ll naturally be able to build a more successful enterprise. Markets can vary according to the demands of the legal world, but your interests will continue to grow and evolve if you follow what’s meaningful to you. You are building your career that will take the center of your life. Make it one you can excel at, and that will naturally prove the most successful and lucrative in the long run.
