Do Lawyers / Attorneys leave the profession?
79355
One of my friends left her law firm to become the ombudsman for a city - she was ideally suited to fight for the little guy.
219862
Most attorneys are member of the state bar (lawyer) association.  Search for your state and bar asssociation for the site for your state bar.  It normally list their school and when they passed the exam to practice law in your state.
656251
You may have a hard time determining the mean salary for a lawyer in this specialty.  Generally, earnings are broken by criminal, civil, and corporate, then categorized by type of employer (government, private, firm), and again broken by size of firm.  \n\nHowever, insurance law is in high demand, and, depending on the factors above, can bring in some great compensation.  For example, a large corporation/firm with a specialty of health care insurance, in a large city (i.e. Chicago), will bring a high six, possibily seven figure income.
562037
To call yourself a lawyer in the US you have to pass your state's Bar Exam which is a pretty brutal test. I suppose it would be possible to get through it without going to school but most people--- and I mean pretty much all of them--- go to law school, which you can't get into without a 4-year college degree.  Without passing the Bar exam, you can call yourself an "advocate" or "advisor" or such but you won't make nearly the money that a lawyer does.
511863
Alternative Dispute Resolution (mediation and arbitration) is here to stay, and a lawyer unfamiliar with those is going to have a hard time. \n\nInternet law is going to continue growing, as are all areas of Intellectual Property Law.\n\nSame with Family Law -- including marriage and divorce laws. Doesn't matter if you're a conservative who wants to specialize in covenant marriages, or someone who believes in tolerance and diversity working towards same-sex unions. Both sides of the spectrum will have lots to do.\n\nOf course, there's never going to be enough Civil Rights attorneys, and Immigration law is going to be a hot issue for most of the next decade. That applies regardless of whether you want to prosecute terrorists and illegal immigrants, or reform the system to protect personal rights.\n\nInternational law might become a big field, if the US stops playing 'us against them' and rejoins the international community.\n\nMore importantly, what are YOU interested in? If you're looking to specialize, then find an area that you enjoy doing and stick with that. There'll be plenty to do, regardless of what specialty you pick.
78206
No\n\nSome State Bar Organizations have rules as to attorney advertising.
420912
It really depends on the law firm and the kind of law practiced by the attorney you report to. A paralegal for a trial lawyer who handles criminal cases may do a lot of running around the office--- making copies, fetching law books from the library, doing research, etc--- because that's a pretty high-energy, high-stress workplace. If you work for an estate lawyer, it may be more sitting because their cases don't have the same frantic pace.
486913
Yes, dependent upon the specialty area that you chose,business lawyers often are called on to travel to negoiate close deals and reduce to a proper legal document a transaction.
371590
Morally no.\nBut, unfortunatley, the law is not based on morals.\nEveryone has the right to an attorney, a fair trial, and don't forget, in America, you are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.\nSo even if a lawyer believes someone is guilty, he has an obligation to give that client the best defense possible.  If he/she does not like defending people like that, then they shouldn't have become a lawyer.
44988
Lawyer pay is all over the map.  Right out of law school some graduates make six figures at their very first jobs.  Those people graduate from top tier law schools and they ranked at the top of their class.  They also had good clerkships with big firms during law school.  For everyone else the ranges are much lower.  Many attorneys start by working as a governmental attorney (for a municipality, a state or federal agency, etc.)  Those folks might start in the low 40s. Of course you have to start somewhere.\n\nNow, as time goes on attorneys make more money, and possibly a lot more money.  The goal of private practice attorneys is to become am equity partner, which means they share a piece of the firm’s total income.  The bigger the firm, the bigger the slice of pie, the bigger the income possibilities.   It’s not uncommon from a partner in a good law firm to make $250,000 or more.  The heavy hitters make much more, some hit a million a year.  Litigation is an area with a lot of upside, so partners in litigation firms can make more than partners who practice in a less profitable practice, like family law or traffic tickets.\n\nLike any profession, there is a huge upside if you are willing to work hard.  Most lawyers who make a lot of money work very long hours – late nights and weekends are common.\n\nGood Luck!
758522
I don't know if your state has adopted the Uniform Rules of Professional Conduct, but they will have some ethical rules as to fees.  The attorney should return any unused portion of the fee. The fee has to be reasonable and it usually has to be similar to the other fees customarily charged.
369335
Yes, law school is expensive and the loans do build up.  I know lots of people who are paying off these loans and feel they can't quit a job in law until they pay everything back.\n\nSalaries for first year associates in many firms in LA and NY just rose to $145k.  If you are just going to work for a large law firm, most top 100 firms pay about the same during the first few years.  Later on, the pay scales start to vary.  If you reach partner status, the amount equity partners can obtain differs greatly among firms.\n\nIt's hard to say what the most lucrative areas of law are.  There are a lot of variables, such as what kind of firm you would be working for.  Whether the firm you end up at pays bonuses based on hours billed, etc.  In that case, litigators bill tons of time.  I do transactional work and we typically bill less than litigators.  However, do you really want to be billing over 2400 hours a year?  That's basically living in the office.
802057
i.t.industry has an association for its professionals and they have instituted their own ethics for their members. PS. i have little faith in ethics as recommended by professional associations -- since their main interest is to protect and enhance the interest of their membership. a case in point is the legal profession --yes, they have work ethics -- but try to fight the billing of a lawyer -- and you end up in their associations -- and (while statistics are not made public) in 99 p.cent of the cases the lawyer gets its due. That is a case off your direct question but it gives you an idea for whom the bell tolls! Hope it helps.
716810
I work in one.  Your friend is overly sensitive.  People are jerks everywhere you go and people are nice everywhere you go.  Law practice can be stressful and lawyers do vent sometimes.  Personally, I really like the professional enviroment.  I'm only here 35 hours a week and the rest of my life is the part that counts.  I'm just here for the paycheck and at 5:00, I leave the office and don't give it another second's thought.
697069
It's called a lawyer's office!!!  The answer to legal questions is not always black and white.  There is a reason that lawyers go to school for 3 or 4 years after undergrad.  You can't get easy answers in law!
1000261
You can always fire your lawyer.  Whether the Court allows the lawyer to be removed as solicitor of record is another matter.  However, if you say that that the solicitor-client relationship has broken down, a judge will be hard-pressed to refuse.
475395
WANT TO BE A SUPER STAR, go defense, that is where the money is.  You want to run for office become a prosecutor. Either way you will learn that wining is the only goal.  Justice seems to fade away in the back ground.  Sorry to give you a cold look at it, but I have had to deal with way to many lawyers. The less heart breaking area is corporate law. Unless you work with a company like Enron.