top-paying attorney jobs
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:17 am
So, I'm a dude who's doing alright so far in law school (1L though..), and is looking to net some serious cash after being in school studying hard for a solid quarter of a century.
I have an engineering degree and am considering patent law -- probably not prosecution though, I would like to do litigation and/or licensing, and client-counseling with mergers and acquisitions. Also, my internship will be giving me rotations in IP and in some type of corporate/business law though I know next to nothing about the latter.
With that said, I'm largely ambivalent to what I end up practicing because: (a) I'm too ignorant (naive) to know what I like at this point, and (b) right now (I think) I like winning at high-powered shit where a lot is on the table and a lot is at stake. So if it fits category (b) then I'm sold.
My question is this: outside of the big-time personal injury trial attorneys who strike it big, what are the top paying attorney jobs 10-15 years after starting work when you've made a little bit of a name for yourself and are fast becoming an expert and rising star in your field?
My thoughts right now are:
(1) securities with IPO specialty
(2) mergers and acquisitions expert
(3) antitrust expert
(4) lead corporate counsel at fortune 100 focusing on 1-3 (probably not possible in 10-15 yrs tho)
(5) a tenured academic professor who is an expert in and consults heavily on 1-3
Basically, 1-3 are the shit that gets to the root of corporations and money which is why I figure they'd be lucrative. So is this true? Are these folks making the biggest buck or is it IP boutique people or is it xyz people?
pls no nasty remarks, I'm not a gunner as you may think (for true!), although I may be a tool...
I have an engineering degree and am considering patent law -- probably not prosecution though, I would like to do litigation and/or licensing, and client-counseling with mergers and acquisitions. Also, my internship will be giving me rotations in IP and in some type of corporate/business law though I know next to nothing about the latter.
With that said, I'm largely ambivalent to what I end up practicing because: (a) I'm too ignorant (naive) to know what I like at this point, and (b) right now (I think) I like winning at high-powered shit where a lot is on the table and a lot is at stake. So if it fits category (b) then I'm sold.
My question is this: outside of the big-time personal injury trial attorneys who strike it big, what are the top paying attorney jobs 10-15 years after starting work when you've made a little bit of a name for yourself and are fast becoming an expert and rising star in your field?
My thoughts right now are:
(1) securities with IPO specialty
(2) mergers and acquisitions expert
(3) antitrust expert
(4) lead corporate counsel at fortune 100 focusing on 1-3 (probably not possible in 10-15 yrs tho)
(5) a tenured academic professor who is an expert in and consults heavily on 1-3
Basically, 1-3 are the shit that gets to the root of corporations and money which is why I figure they'd be lucrative. So is this true? Are these folks making the biggest buck or is it IP boutique people or is it xyz people?
pls no nasty remarks, I'm not a gunner as you may think (for true!), although I may be a tool...
