Whether you're seeking the aid of a lawyer or contemplating moving to law school, there's a general confusion in the population regarding what types of lawyers are there. Some people assume that a lawyer is a lawyer, so any lawyer will be able to provide whatever legal services they want. While technically this is the case because a lawyer is licensed to practice law (minus a couple of exceptions where further licensing is required), the law is indeed vast and all-encompassing it is impossible for one attorney to effectively provide legal services across every distinct field of law. Much like doctors, where there is a concentration on a specific area of the body, particular age groups, or particular kinds of ailments and diseases, lawyers typically specialize in one, or a couple of related kinds of law. Below is a listing of 18 of the most common types of attorneys (in no particular order) and short descriptions of each attorneys ' law clinic. "
Real Estate Lawyer
Real Estate attorneys assist with almost any legal problems associated with real estate and property. Like business lawyers, real estate lawyers are distinguished between transactional vs. litigation. Additionally, there are many differences between commercial real estate and residential real estate, in addition to other kinds of personal property, therefore most property lawyers specialize and focus on a few of these areas. Much like business lawyers, real estate litigators go to court to assert whether a contract or purchase/sale agreement was violated, or when a landlord or tenant breaks a law and has to be dealt with accordingly. Property agent lawyers, on the other hand, solely take care of the negotiation of property transactions and archiving documents enclosing those discussions.
Immigration Lawyer
An immigration attorney will help with anything relating to bringing a family member, employee, or person into the USA from another country. Most immigration attorneys ' clinics rely heavily on companies since they need employment visas so as to attract employees to the United States from overseas. There are an array of forms to file with every government entity involved and intricate laws to be followed to be able to employ a non-citizen.
Company Lawyer (also known as Corporate Lawyer)
Business law is quite broad, and company attorneys will often deal with different regions of law discussed below, such as intellectual, intellectual property, and mergers and acquisitions. Occasionally these lawyers just focus on basic company legal tasks such as forming your company, while some tend to be more encompassing and will work on all types of business needs from employment issues to taxation compliance. Additionally, some lawyers focus just on small businesses and startups, but others concentrate on large businesses. Keep in mind that you will find business licensed attorneys and business litigation attorneys too. The gap between both of these different types of business lawyers are significant, in that business transactional lawyers handle trades (for instance, negotiating deals) and archiving files (such as employment agreements), whilst business litigation lawyers handle your suits (such as when someone sues your company for violating the terms of a contract). Most of the time, a company transactional lawyer won't do business litigation, and vice versa, even though there are exceptions.
Bankruptcy Lawyer
Bankruptcy attorneys allow you to file for bankruptcy or work through your bankruptcy to assist you escape debt. There are distinct subsets of bankruptcy lawyers who represent the debtor (the person or business filing for bankruptcy) and the creditor (the ones that are owed money by the borrower and want to recover as much of the money as possible during the bankruptcy). There are also lawyers who specialize in several types of bankruptcy. The most frequent types are Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorneys (Chapter 7 is when an individual or a company wants to liquidate/dissolve their resources so as to eliminate their debts), Chapter 11 bankruptcy lawyers (Chapter 11 is when a company [or person within a company] needs to restructure their debts to get back on track), and Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorneys (Chapter 13 is a different type of chapter 11 for individuals where you restructure your debts to become to a more affordable payment schedule, and it's still possible to keep the majority of your assets). Many bankruptcy attorneys can manage different types of bankruptcies but a few just specialize in 1 kind of claim. Ensure you find a bankruptcy lawyer that's familiar with managing situations such as your own.
Entertainment Lawyer
Entertainment lawyers deal with a number of amusement difficulties, mainly relating to entertainment contracts. They draft and examine licensing agreements, management contracts, and contracts having to do with royalties and any other component of the entertainment industry you may imagine. If you live in Los Angeles or New York, entertainment law is popular, but becoming an entertainment lawyer is among the hardest things to do due to high competition. Most entertainment lawyers have previous experience working as a different sort of attorney.
So, you now understand a little more about what kinds of lawyers there are. If you are looking to employ a lawyer, it's 's important to figure out how to find the right lawyer for your requirements. Even though there are numerous overlapping clinic areas, each type of law differs and you'll need to be sure to find an attorney that specializes in the sort of legal service that you want. Doing otherwise is risky and can create unnecessary legal problems later on.