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I know this is going to sound slow of me, but when I think of a lawyer, I think of someone who just practices law. If someone comes to them with a case, they can take it and represent the person. Sure, there are some that have specific specialties, like patent or corporate lawyers (mostly contracts and such), but is it sane to want to just do civil rights/constitutional type cases primarily and secondarily do criminal (not as big as murder but criminal nonetheless)? But that seems so general to the point that any lawyer does that... right? What would that lawyer be called - a civil rights/constitutional lawyer? In other words, say I want to do that (con law/crim law), what would I be "specializing" in law school?

WalkingPlato wrote:I know this is going to sound slow of me, but when I think of a lawyer, I think of someone who just practices law. If someone comes to them with a case, they can take it and represent the person. Sure, there are some that have specific specialties, like patent or corporate lawyers (mostly contracts and such), but is it sane to want to just do civil rights/constitutional type cases primarily and secondarily do criminal (not as big as murder but criminal nonetheless)? But that seems so general to the point that any lawyer does that... right? What would that lawyer be called - a civil rights/constitutional lawyer? In other words, say I want to do that (con law/crim law), what would I be "specializing" in law school?

You don't have to specialize in anything. Are you thinking of being a solo? Perhaps a "trial lawyer."

lewis&clarkLawGuy wrote:

WalkingPlato wrote:I know this is going to sound slow of me, but when I think of a lawyer, I think of someone who just practices law. If someone comes to them with a case, they can take it and represent the person. Sure, there are some that have specific specialties, like patent or corporate lawyers (mostly contracts and such), but is it sane to want to just do civil rights/constitutional type cases primarily and secondarily do criminal (not as big as murder but criminal nonetheless)? But that seems so general to the point that any lawyer does that... right? What would that lawyer be called - a civil rights/constitutional lawyer? In other words, say I want to do that (con law/crim law), what would I be "specializing" in law school?

You don't have to specialize in anything. Are you thinking of being a solo? Perhaps a "trial lawyer."

I was thinking of working in a firm but doing civil rights type work and criminal cases - so a bit in both worlds. But, when I told some lawyers this, they said, "well, every lawyer does that. That's not really a specialization." But in some schools it says you can specialize in civil rights and criminal law.

I think the words to use are "plaintiff's side civil litigation [as opposed to defense litigation], specializing in civil rights, with some pro bono criminal defense." That's specific enough that you can start a conversation with someone, anyway, and I think it's what you're talking about.

At minimum, you've established that you want to be a litigator, rather than, say, a transactional lawyer or something. You also don't want to be, e.g., a government prosecutor. So you start by looking at litigation departments at firms and seeing what they have that's similar to what you want to do. Granted, it's still a pretty wide field, but whoever told you that "everyone does that" either misunderstood you or is stupid.

I wanna be a TV lawyer. And each case is solved perfectly within 45 minutes.

I think saying "a good one" can actually be a kind of witty and appropriate response to this questions in certain situations; in law school I think most ppl really don't know what exactly they will end up liking or practicing eventually. But maybe following up such comment with, "actually, I've been thinking about maybe...." could be a good idea.

ben4847 wrote:I wanna be a TV lawyer.

This is what I got too

WalkingPlato wrote: But in some schools it says you can specialize in civil rights and criminal law.

Don't worry about what the schools say or offer as specializations, it's generally meaningless.

Also, the best answer to this question is employed.

tomwatts wrote:I think the words to use are "plaintiff's side civil litigation [as opposed to defense litigation], specializing in civil rights, with some pro bono criminal defense." That's specific enough that you can start a conversation with someone, anyway, and I think it's what you're talking about.

At minimum, you've established that you want to be a litigator, rather than, say, a transactional lawyer or something. You also don't want to be, e.g., a government prosecutor. So you start by looking at litigation departments at firms and seeing what they have that's similar to what you want to do. Granted, it's still a pretty wide field, but whoever told you that "everyone does that" either misunderstood you or is stupid.

That sounds like what I was looking for. I was thinking civil litigator but those usually apply laws tospecific situations. But, I also wanted to argue constitutionality of laws, like the work in the ACLU, but also do criminal cases.

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lederhosen wrote:

ben4847 wrote:I wanna be a TV lawyer. And each case is solved perfectly within 45 minutes.

I wanna be like Harvey Specter (Suits), pro athletes/celebs on speed dial, alpha as fuark, models & bottles, always right, always win.

It would also be awesome to always only have one case/deal at a time and have them all go to trial/close within a couple of days

Ludovico Technique wrote:

lederhosen wrote:

ben4847 wrote:I wanna be a TV lawyer. And each case is solved perfectly within 45 minutes.

I wanna be like Harvey Specter (Suits), pro athletes/celebs on speed dial, alpha as fuark, models & bottles, always right, always win.

It would also be awesome to always only have one case/deal at a time and have them all go to trial/close within a couple of days

I'm still trying to figure out whether harvey does corporate or lit. One episode he's doing mergers and then the next time he's in court

ben4847 wrote:

Ludovico Technique wrote:

lederhosen wrote:

ben4847 wrote:I wanna be a TV lawyer. And each case is solved perfectly within 45 minutes.

I wanna be like Harvey Specter (Suits), pro athletes/celebs on speed dial, alpha as fuark, models & bottles, always right, always win.

It would also be awesome to always only have one case/deal at a time and have them all go to trial/close within a couple of days

I'm still trying to figure out whether harvey does corporate or lit. One episode he's doing mergers and then the next time he's in court

Don't forget he used to prosecute too. And also dabbles in criminal defense.