Help with which field of law to study Forum

[bkas]

So i live in NY and plan to go to a decent law school in NYC when i graduate. I am a junior in undergrad at a state school and am doing pretty well. I am majoring in Business but concentrating in M.I.S(Management Information Systems) for those of you who dont know what mis is, it's a lot of database management, information manipulation etc...
So.... That being said, I really enjoy my major, and am pretty set on going to law school, but i am not sure what field of study i want to focus on. I was thinking either IP law or Criminal law. My major more closely relates to IP, but criminal law has always intrigued me and i think i would thoroughly enjoy working as a criminal lawyer.
My question is, what is the course load like for each, and which one do you think presents the best opportunities upon graduation? Also, i know that i can do criminal law and end up being a state appointed defense attorney which i would NOT want to do. I would love to do something related to prosecuting internet crimes relating to rape/ child pornography in order to get these creeps behind bars. I would also enjoy doing something like getting involved in information security for a company when data or information gets stolen from them.

[Good Guy Gaud]

Try out internships before and/or during law school in the areas you are interested in to see what you like best. I know people who wanted IP that ended up in criminal or L&E and so on.

[sublime]

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[bkas]

How does the law school curriculum work? Your first year you take general law classes and then when or how do you declare a specific field of study? can you declare in more than one?

[rnoodles]

How does the law school curriculum work? Your first year you take general law classes and then when or how do you declare a specific field of study? can you declare in more than one?

You are way ahead of yourself. There aren't really "majors" or specific programs in law school and you don't need to declare or follow a specific field of study. Your entire first year will probably be set for you with basic courses, then you go from there.

[jphiggo]

You should spend some time using Google or, even better, visiting a law school website and looking at their curriculum, etc. As sublime has already told you, there aren't "majors" in law school. The first year is typically a general curriculum to satisfy ABA requirements and then you take electives your second and third year in whatever courses that interest you, with at least a few more ABA requirements you'll have to fulfill in those remaining two years.

[A. Nony Mouse]

How does the law school curriculum work? Your first year you take general law classes and then when or how do you declare a specific field of study? can you declare in more than one?

You don't declare a specific field of study. Law is a generalist degree - you fulfill your school's requirements and then take other stuff you want to take.

IP law is more lucrative than criminal law, but I don't know that an MIS degree is going to qualify you to do IP law. And what sublime said about criminal law is correct.

Why do you want to be a lawyer, and what do you know about what lawyers do?

[bkas]

I really want to be a lawyer for a few reasons. I know that being a lawyer isnt about being in a courtroom and putting the serial killer in jail since only a few big name lawyers get to do that in the history of america more or less. Its no law and order episode or suits episode its hard work and a lot of reading, but i have a passion for the law and to uphold and protect it along with a passion for computers and intellectual property like stolen data and information that either a company or individual may have. I dont want to be a lawyer for the glorified hollywood aspect of it - i want to do it so i can uphold and protect american law in something i enjoy.

And what i know is (since both my sisters have worked in law firms as legal assistants) is that lawyers have to do a lot of contract work negotiations. (one of them works in an entertainment & publishing law firm and the other was in a patent & IP law firm)

[sublime]

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[bkas]

I know a few people who work for the military(Air Force), and cyber-risk for a couple of the big 4 consultant firms (EY and Deloitte) and it just doesnt seem like something i would want to do. Im going to think long and hard about law school before i make a final decision, but as of now i am seriously interested in it.

[A. Nony Mouse]

There absolutely are jobs prosecuting computer crime, but you will need to start out as a generic prosecutor and work your way up (either state or federal).

Also, stolen data isn't really what most people are talking about when they talk about IP law here. When you say IP here, it's about the rules for securing and enforcing legal rights to inventions, designs, and artistic works - patent, trademark, and copyright stuff, as well as trade secrets - but it's generally civil, not criminal. It might involve one firm suing someone for copyright or trademark infringement, but it's not so much about guarding against data theft/prosecuting stealing info from computers (there's some overlap but they're generally different). It sounds much more like you're talking about cybercrime than IP.

[theInnerCircle]

There absolutely are jobs prosecuting computer crime, but you will need to start out as a generic prosecutor and work your way up (either state or federal).

Also, stolen data isn't really what most people are talking about when they talk about IP law here. When you say IP here, it's about the rules for securing and enforcing legal rights to inventions, designs, and artistic works - patent, trademark, and copyright stuff, as well as trade secrets - but it's generally civil, not criminal. It might involve one firm suing someone for copyright or trademark infringement, but it's not so much about guarding against data theft/prosecuting stealing info from computers (there's some overlap but they're generally different). It sounds much more like you're talking about cybercrime than IP.

Same here. As a result, I was also going to suggest work in the information privacy/data security realm. It's a growing area.

[totesTheGoat]

IP law is more lucrative than criminal law, but I don't know that an MIS degree is going to qualify you to do IP law.

I don't think it does, and even if somebody went category B or C with an MIS degree, they're going to have a hard time getting many bites from firms.

I was also going to suggest work in the information privacy/data security realm. It's a growing area.

I think that's a good idea. There's also a growing number of lawyers that work for e-discovery companies, which is tangential to the data security arena.