What kind of law/lawyer makes the most money? Forum

[CanIGetAnAmen]

Bump.

[lukertin]

patent law

Maybe if you do litigation.

prosecution? lol

[dood]

Class actions.

Plaintiff side

correct, and med mal plaintiffs side. but u gotta be good at either and have deep enough pockets to pay for everything up front for years before pay day.

[dood]

patent law

Maybe if you do litigation.

prosecution? lol

neither would get more than any other big firm associate.

only way i see patent law being richer than other lawyers is if you had a cool $50M and bought a strong portfolio and asserted them yourself. but then you might as well go into business, not law, and just hire patent lawyers to do it for you.

[CanIGetAnAmen]

Bump.

[Bronte]

Bump.

Stop. Your question has been well answered.

[CanIGetAnAmen]

Bump.

Stop. Your question has been well answered.

Nah brah. We moving when I say so.

[Gunnar Stahl]

Stop. Your question has been well answered.

[romothesavior]

Bump.

Stop. Your question has been well answered.

Nah brah. We moving when I say so.

No we're not. Bump this again and I'm locking it.

[JamMasterJ]

IBTL
TYBRomo

[romothesavior]

I'll throw out a substantive answer as well.

Contrary to what you might expect reading the TLS interbuttz, biglaw is not the most lucrative field of law. As others have said, its generally plaintiff's side med mal, class action types of cases. When I was going thru the OCI/interviewing process, I did a lot of networking with non-defense firm lawyers at reputable plaintiffs/personal injury firms and most of them were doing really, really well. Even guys who were late-20s or early 30s (still associates) were telling me that they surpassed their friends' salaries at the biglaw firms in town within 3-5 years of getting out of law school. One guy who did ERISA work as a solo told me a story of how he got a paycheck from a settlement that caused the other lawyer (a partner) to remark something like, "Wow, I'm in the wrong line of work... that's more money than I see in a year!" or something to that effect.

All that said, from the perspective of a law student looking for their first legal job, I think it really does make more sense to gun for big defense firm work. I think that for a couple of reasons:
1) it's more lucrative right out the gate (i.e., you make a set six-figure salary as opposed to starting at mid-five figures and hoping to kill it after a few years for more dough)
2) it's more stable (many plaintiff's firms are shitmills with high turnover, and its very feast or famine)
3) while the top plaintiff's side firms make great money and can have solid reputations, many are running Saul Goodman-esque operations and struggling to get by
4) it's a much less risky opportunity to take as a 2L/3L, because defense firms generally do the OCI --> SA --> offer route, while plaintiff's firms are liable to have much higher no-offer rates or will wait until after graduation or even the bar to hire. My inclination is that exit opportunities from biglaw would be better too, but being a freshly minted grad, I can't really say for sure.

I had an offer from a strong plaintiff's class action firm here in town and I may consider pursuing that line of work someday, but I decided to go the more traditional big defense firm route for the reasons I listed above. And really, this question is pretty stupid IMO. Just because the top lawyers in a certain field make a ton of money doesn't mean you should go into it, and the earning power of the guys at the top doesn't necessarily mean the average person in that line of work makes anything.

[CanIGetAnAmen]

Are we cereal now brah?

[b123]

Prosecution. I have a very, very prosperous life ahead of me.


Bird Law.

[Young Marino]

Intellectual property and immigration law have potential to get big in the coming years

[NoWorries]

Intellectual property and immigration law have potential to get big in the coming years

Please tell me how immigration lawyers are gonna make coin.

[Scotusnerd]

Please tell me how immigration lawyers are gonna make coin.

Drug money.

[PDaddy]

Title.

Big Law in early 2000's so invent a time machine.

I would think Patent/IP, Real Estate, General Corporate or any top defense lawyer specializing in drug crimes defense (high-end clients only, $600-1,000 per hour, cash up front!). I would also imagine tax lawyers making a good dime.

Medical malpractice can be lucrative.

Personal injury lawyers, if they're really good and take the right cases, can make $500K - $1M or more per year.

Saw on 60 Minutes a lawyer who specializes in class-action lawsuits (typically products liability, etc.). His clients get a few hundred or few thousand each while he takes home tens and even hundreds of millions.

[mvonh001]

Bird Law.

TITCR... Stolen right out of my mouth. I was about to type it up but decided to read page 2 to make sure no one else had said it.

[TheBiggerMediocre]

Someone who couldn't quite make it as an attorney and had to resort to counterfeiting currency.

All kidding aside some laws that make a lot of money are tax laws and environmental laws. Those penalties and fines can be pretty harsh when all you are trying to do is run a business.

[Macalpinerules]

I hear afterlife law is a thriving area of practice. It's where you help dead people dispute the handling of their wills. It's also not very expensive to set up shop: you need just a doc reviewer and someone who can contact the other side. You can save money by hiring someone who both reviews documents and makes contact with the dead.

[jas1503]

That Logistics and Transportation Law: https://www.fcsl.edu/logistics

[rwhyAn]

The lawyer that graduates at the top of his/her class from Harvard.

[Bronte]

I think everyone should go ahead and type "Joe Jamail" into Wikipedia so we can all stop thinking that patent law and graduating from Harvard are anywhere close to the most lucrative things.

[jas1503]

I think everyone should go ahead and type "Joe Jamail" into Wikipedia so we can all stop thinking that patent law and graduating from Harvard are anywhere close to the most lucrative things.

Better known for..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIxmrvbMeKc

[Young Marino]

Please tell me how immigration lawyers are gonna make coin.

Drug money.

LOL exactly. Especially with all the "reform" coming.. However, most potential clients will probably be broke so you'd end up working for ham and cheese sandwiches just to feed your family