Top Law Schools

Health Law, Employment Law, or Trade Law.

I'm interested in all three, but I'm wondering which market area has the greatest demand?

Edit: Also, in response to the post below, I outed myself after I realized there was no need to be anonymous since I changed what I wanted to say. Calm down.

I hear international human rights law is booming right now.

User was outed for anon abuse.

fuck that, space law brah

Anonymous User wrote:I hear international human rights law is booming right now.

OP here

The above post was not me. Let's keep this thread useful. Serious replies appreciated.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I hear international human rights law is booming right now.

OP here

The above post was not me. Let's keep this thread useful. Serious replies appreciated.

You can often get more serious replies if you are not needlessly anonymous.

Anonymous User wrote:I hear international human rights law is booming right now.

so is your sense of humor, breh.

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TLS wrote:

Davidbentley wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

You can often get more serious replies if you are not needlessly anonymous.

Fair enough. I'm the OP. In my initial post I was going to post some sensitive info, but then I changed my mind. So yeah, no reason to be anonymous. Alright, which of those three areas is most marketable/in demand? Thanks.

Health and Employment have been fairly strong recently.

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/continuin ... report.pdf

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ ... es_report/

The answer should be obvious. At my SA at a patent firm last summer, often the lawyers would get downright giddy at the thought of all the uncertainty that the American Invent Act (2011) has generated, and with reason: The AIA is the most significant overhaul of the patent system in 60 years, and patent lawyers are gonna billing an assload of $$$ for a while helping clients navigate all its implications, foreseen and otherwise.

The Affordable Care Act dwarfs the AIA in size and scope. Right now the HHS is furiously churning out thousands of pages of resulting regulation. Health care lawyers must be walking on air right now.

In seriousness, Elder Law. Every day in the US 10,000 people turn 65.

Oh those three, health law.

Employment law has lots of competition for not a lot of money and nothing that is going to result in a lot of demand for new lawyers.

Trade law also has lots of competition and there aren't any particular triggers that have increased demand after the recession. There is some opportunity in international arbitration or maybe with some of the trade agreements, but those slots tend to be very specific and require lots of international experience (language, citizenships, etc.)

Health law has lots of competition, but it at least has demand as boomers age and the complexity of insurance/hospital system interactions to offer some opportunities.

What about immigration law? Especially in light of the new legislation that is projected to pass Congress.

bizzybone1313 wrote:What about immigration law? Especially in light of the new legislation that is projected to pass Congress.

No money in immigration law. And it's intensely boring and basic. Only do it if you really care about people, because there's nothing more to it than "helping people achieve their dream."

1. Find a job with a law firm
2. Work in whatever area they tell you too, because you're their bitch
3. Get fired, not that you had any hope of making partner anyway
4. ??????
5. PROFIT!!!

tits law

LawIdiot86 wrote:Oh those three, health law.

Employment law has lots of competition for not a lot of money and nothing that is going to result in a lot of demand for new lawyers.

Trade law also has lots of competition and there aren't any particular triggers that have increased demand after the recession. There is some opportunity in international arbitration or maybe with some of the trade agreements, but those slots tend to be very specific and require lots of international experience (language, citizenships, etc.)

Health law has lots of competition, but it at least has demand as boomers age and the complexity of insurance/hospital system interactions to offer some opportunities.

A lot of big firms do employment law and charge a fuck ton. Though I think you are mostly fucking over workers.

actually, employment law, especially ITE, has been booming for most biglaw firms. more suits are filed against employers in lean economic years and there's been a lot of work from what i've read.

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LawIdiot86 wrote:Oh those three, health law.

Employment law has lots of competition for not a lot of money and nothing that is going to result in a lot of demand for new lawyers.

Trade law also has lots of competition and there aren't any particular triggers that have increased demand after the recession. There is some opportunity in international arbitration or maybe with some of the trade agreements, but those slots tend to be very specific and require lots of international experience (language, citizenships, etc.)

Health law has lots of competition, but it at least has demand as boomers age and the complexity of insurance/hospital system interactions to offer some opportunities.

I'm not sure about your assessment of employment law. This is obviously anecdotal, but at my summer firm l&e was far and away one of the busiest practice groups. They told me the practice has actually grown significantly since the recession hit, and even the brand new associates are easily exceeding their hours req. Apparently there's been a huge increase in wage & hour cases, an unexpectedly active NLRB and EEOC, the new healthcare law, employee immigration issues, and a growing number of whistleblower suits. Then the "standard" stuff that never goes away like employee benefits, labor negotiations, executive compensation, severance packages, layoffs, general compliance, OSHA, noncompetes, trade secret suits, transactional support, etc. At least from what I saw, there's more than enough of this stuff to go around.

I am strongly considering practicing employment law, but I will only do it if it is plaintiff side. Otherwise, I will go do immigration law.

bizzybone1313 wrote:I am strongly considering practicing employment law, but I will only do it if it is plaintiff side.

hm, that's pretty specific. why?

TLS wrote:Thanks for the input everyone.

The reason I'm interested in Trade Law is actually because I'm interested in enforcement of fair practices in areas like employment and healthcare across the nation. I'm also just generally interested in consumer protection and trade law focuses on that in healthcare, employment, and other areas. Again, I'm not interested in firm work. I'd either like either like to end up working for the gov't or a non-profit.

Is there a way I can get involved in all these areas and take all the classes necessary to have relevant and marketable experience in those areas in 3 years? I'm thinking about taking a lot of healthcare and employment classes (maybe getting concentrations in those areas) but then just focusing on taking enough trade law classes to appeal to trade law employers as well. In all those areas I'd try to focus on consumer protection. Does that sound like a decent idea?

If I do it that way and trade law turns out to not be very lucrative, I'd still have health law or employment law to fall back on.

Generally speaking, the consumer protection side of things is not going to be very lucrative unless you do what you apparently don't want to do, which is work for a plaintiffs' firm doing things like product liability, etc. Even if you were interested in that work, it's a long shot to get a job with a respectable plaintiffs' firm.

We really need more info to tell you what is and is not realistic. What law school are you going to be going to? Do you really not want to do plaintiffs' work, or by saying you don't want to work at a "firm" did you mean you don't want to defense-side work?

As a quick aside, I think you'll find that, for all but the most ideologically-driven and reality-averse law students, studying law gives you a better sense of the fairly objective work that lawyers do. You will have clients who you don't like no matter what kind of work you do. Some will be liars, some will be woe-is-me assholes who think their existence entitles them to the world, but the vast majority will be decent people trying to work hard to have a decent life who then run into legal issues. You ought not foreclose the thought of firm work if you want to get a foot in the door, as most public service employers' hiring is reaaaaally tight these days, and it may well be that you have to work for an employer whose clients have goals you don't agree with in order to work for an employer whose clients have goals that are more in line with what you consider "right." That might seem like selling out, but you've got to remember that lawyers generally abide by their ethical duties, and that, all bullshit aside, they are officers of the court first and foremost.

Lasers wrote:

bizzybone1313 wrote:I am strongly considering practicing employment law, but I will only do it if it is plaintiff side.

hm, that's pretty specific. why?

Some people want to work on behalf of workers, not against them. Employment law is one of those areas (labor is like this too) where, as I understand it, people don't switch sides very much. Plaintiff-side lawyers often see it as a kind of akin to social justice/civil rights lawyering, while helping large corporations write employee handbooks and fire people in compliance with the law is not. (Not sure if those are bizzy's reasons, but it's not surprising to see someone with that attitude.)

As an aside, I'm really not sure what trade law means in this context or how it connects to consumer protection. I thought trade law = international trade?

Anonymous User wrote:

LawIdiot86 wrote:Oh those three, health law.

Employment law has lots of competition for not a lot of money and nothing that is going to result in a lot of demand for new lawyers.

Trade law also has lots of competition and there aren't any particular triggers that have increased demand after the recession. There is some opportunity in international arbitration or maybe with some of the trade agreements, but those slots tend to be very specific and require lots of international experience (language, citizenships, etc.)

Health law has lots of competition, but it at least has demand as boomers age and the complexity of insurance/hospital system interactions to offer some opportunities.

I'm not sure about your assessment of employment law. This is obviously anecdotal, but at my summer firm l&e was far and away one of the busiest practice groups. They told me the practice has actually grown significantly since the recession hit, and even the brand new associates are easily exceeding their hours req. Apparently there's been a huge increase in wage & hour cases, an unexpectedly active NLRB and EEOC, the new healthcare law, employee immigration issues, and a growing number of whistleblower suits. Then the "standard" stuff that never goes away like employee benefits, labor negotiations, executive compensation, severance packages, layoffs, general compliance, OSHA, noncompetes, trade secret suits, transactional support, etc. At least from what I saw, there's more than enough of this stuff to go around.

I'm basing it from my experience that a ton of my friends wanted employment law, interned in it, and then couldn't find jobs. Also, my summer firm had l&e and it was dead. I get the sense a lot of companies are in-housing l&e or farming it out to small local firms.

LawIdiot86 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

LawIdiot86 wrote:Oh those three, health law.

Employment law has lots of competition for not a lot of money and nothing that is going to result in a lot of demand for new lawyers.

Trade law also has lots of competition and there aren't any particular triggers that have increased demand after the recession. There is some opportunity in international arbitration or maybe with some of the trade agreements, but those slots tend to be very specific and require lots of international experience (language, citizenships, etc.)

Health law has lots of competition, but it at least has demand as boomers age and the complexity of insurance/hospital system interactions to offer some opportunities.

I'm not sure about your assessment of employment law. This is obviously anecdotal, but at my summer firm l&e was far and away one of the busiest practice groups. They told me the practice has actually grown significantly since the recession hit, and even the brand new associates are easily exceeding their hours req. Apparently there's been a huge increase in wage & hour cases, an unexpectedly active NLRB and EEOC, the new healthcare law, employee immigration issues, and a growing number of whistleblower suits. Then the "standard" stuff that never goes away like employee benefits, labor negotiations, executive compensation, severance packages, layoffs, general compliance, OSHA, noncompetes, trade secret suits, transactional support, etc. At least from what I saw, there's more than enough of this stuff to go around.

I'm basing it from my experience that a ton of my friends wanted employment law, interned in it, and then couldn't find jobs. Also, my summer firm had l&e and it was dead. I get the sense a lot of companies are in-housing l&e or farming it out to small local firms.

depends on the firm and the city it's in. but as a whole, labor and employment has been up. there are quite a few articles you can find on the subject.