what type lawyer makes the most money

by Robert Kiehn 10 min read

Types of Lawyers That Make the Most Money

  1. Intellectual Property Lawyers. Topping the list of lawyers who earn the most are the Intellectual Property (IP) lawyers. ...
  2. Trial Lawyers. One of the highest paid lawyers in the law field, trial lawyers handle several functions as an attorney.
  3. Corporate Lawyers. ...
  4. Tax Lawyers. ...
  5. Civil Rights Lawyers. ...
  6. Criminal Defense Lawyers. ...
  7. Real Estate Lawyers. ...
  8. Family Lawyers. ...

Types of Lawyers That Make the Most Money
  • Tax attorney (tax law): $122,000;
  • Corporate lawyer: $118,000;
  • Employment lawyer: $88,000;
  • Real estate attorney: $87,000;
  • Divorce attorney: $86,000;
  • Immigration attorney: $85,000;
  • Estate attorney: $84,000;
  • Public defender: $66,000.

Full Answer

Who are the 10 highest paid lawyers in the USA?

Who Are The 10 Highest Paid Lawyers In The USA?

  1. Ana Quincoces - Net Worth: $8 Million. If you combine beauty with brains, the end result is Ana Quincoces. ...
  2. Vernon Jordan - Net Worth: $12 Million. Vernon Jordan kick started his career as a civil rights activist and he has devoted his life and career to bringing about ...
  3. Thomas Mesereau - Net Worth: $ 25 Million. ...

More items...

What is the average starting salary for a lawyer?

  • District of Columbia – $192,530
  • California – $171,550
  • New York – $167,110
  • Massachusetts – $165,610
  • Connecticut – $153,640
  • Illinois – $152,980
  • Texas – $150,250
  • Colorado – $147,560
  • Arizona – $145,750
  • Virginia – $139,180

More items...

What is the the gross monthly income for a lawyer?

As of Nov 22, 2021, the average annual pay for a Corporate Lawyer in the United States is $163,166 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $78.45 an hour. This is the equivalent of $3,138/week or $13,597/month.

How much can a lawyer expect to get paid?

How Much Does a Lawyer Make? Lawyers made a median salary of $126,930 in 2020. The best-paid 25 percent made $189,520 that year, while the lowest-paid 25 percent made $84,450. The BLS projects ...

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What Kind of Lawyer Makes the Most Money?

What type of lawyer makes the most money? The median salary for different specialties differs. Some of the highest-paid types of lawyers and most lucrative specialties include the following.

How much do lawyers make?

Many factors affect how much lawyers earn; however, the salary range for lawyers varies widely. As of 2019, the average lawyer earned $126,930 annually, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

How much does an in-house counsel make?

A company’s in-house counsel is a lawyer who works on behalf of the company instead of representing a variety of clients independently as lawyers at law firms do. Attorneys who work as in-house counsel typically earn a salary the organization sets. In March 2021, Salary.com reported that an in-house counsel’s salary average was $226,689. There was a reported salary range of $192,038 to $263,822 for lawyers working for in-house firms.​

What does a tax attorney do?

Specialized tax attorneys represent organizations in their dealings with federal, state, and local tax agencies. To protect assets and create tax savings plans, corporations and large companies pay a great deal of money to attorneys who specialize in tax laws.

Why do lawyers choose law?

It is not unusual for lawyers to choose the legal field because they want to help others. Others practice law to serve the greater good. There are populations highly dependent on the expertise of lawyers who are knowledgeable in established laws, to protect their legal rights.

What is corporate law?

Lawyers who specialize in corporate law offer advice on business transactions, acquisitions, and mergers, buying and selling businesses, running corporations, and filing legal documents for the company. The preparation and review of contracts is one hallmark of a corporate lawyer who ensures the paperwork favors the client.

How much does a law firm partner make?

An employment website, PayScale, reports that the average salary for a law firm partner in the U.S. is $187,134 per year in 2021. Average pay ranged up to $440,000 after commissions, bonuses, and profit-sharing.

How much does a real estate lawyer make?

When the lawyer is taking so much care of his or her clients, or I should say saving people’s life, it’s the purist duty to give them the highest payment to make their lives also better. $90,000-$120,000 is the expected salary for a real estate lawyer.

How much does a divorce lawyer make?

As this could be a tough & rough case for a lawyer to handle, the salary or payment of a lawyer for this kind of issue can be $74,000-$84,000 at the early stage. But now, it is essential to see how nicely the lawyer can handle the case.

What is personal injury lawyer?

People are supposed to be injured physically, which leads to an incurred loss to their health issues. Personal injury lawyers handle this kind of case. They cover up the reasons for the failures of their client’s perceptible object and how to recover the client’s properties so that the client gets his proper rights.

How much does an immigration lawyer make?

This kind of lawyer often remained the highest-paid lawyers in the law-job-field.$162,000 can be expected for this kind of lawyer.

What is bankruptcy lawyer?

A bankruptcy lawyer finds the most significant point to get rid out of it and stops the company from getting bankrupted. Sometimes, they have many pieces of advice to give their client to handle such a situation primarily.

How does a tax attorney help?

A tax attorney helps his client by taking over all tax-related tasks. He can also suggest his client make his taxes paid smoothly. It’s a very tough-rough job to earn the most money from law-field, of course, one’s capability can bring him with such the highest amount such as $100,000 in a year.

Why do banks do the best?

They do the best so that their client can feel secured of anything related to their lives like properties , bank loans, agreement papers, etc.

How much do lawyers make?

In our last article where we discuss how much lawyers get paid, we can see that lawyers in the United States have a median salary of $120,910, which means lawyers earn around $60 per hour. This is well above the national average salary of $48,672, based on statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, given the time and financial cost of law school, it’s safe to say that there are most likely easier ways to earn money, and those that can thrive in this high-pressured and fast-paced career need to have the talent and skills as a lawyer.

How much does a criminal defense lawyer make?

On average, a criminal defense lawyer will earn $80,000 a year, but can go as much as $174,000. 5. Civil Rights Lawyers. A civil rights lawyer deals in cases that involve discrimination based on things people cannot control (race, age, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender), human rights, and equality.

Why do personal injury lawyers have contingency payments?

Because of the contingency payment plan, personal injury lawyers can pick the cases that are most likely to win. Not all cases will have high settlement amounts like the example above, but what personal injury lawyers earn is more than enough to keep its doors open that it can survive a few loses. So, a personal injury lawyer may earn as low as a family lawyer or way more than an intellectual property lawyer, depending on the cases they take on.

How do personal injury lawyers get paid?

This means that they can only get paid if their client wins the case and receives a settlement. The lawyer takes a percentage of this settlement (usually 1/3 of the total settlement).

What is corporate law?

Corporate lawyers work in private practices, law firms that provide services to corporations, or in-house legal departments or corporations, to ensure that the business is complying with laws and regulations. Every legal aspect a corporation needs (copyright, patenting an employee’s work, libel cases against the corporation, down to making sure advertising and marketing aren’t committing copyright infringement) lies in the hands of their corporate lawyers.

Why do tax lawyers work?

Tax lawyers work with private individuals and businesses to ensure their taxes are properly filed and any tax-related case they have is handled. Because taxes affect nearly everyone, tax lawyers have the option of working for a corporation or to have their own private practice to help multiple clients with their tax cases. Tax lawyers have a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge on tax laws, so it’s no surprise that many tax lawyers also have accounting licenses. Their knowledge in tax law allows clients to know all their options when making financial and legal decisions.

What do real estate lawyers do?

Real estate lawyers handle anything related to businesses dealing in residential, commercial, and office real estate. They look at the contracts and make sure their client is getting a fair deal with no loopholes that can be exploited. They make sure the rental agreements are fair. They make sure the deeds are in place and that those planning to buy, rent, or sell property are getting whatever is entitled to them. And given that the median home price in the United States is $200,000, it means real estate lawyers handle large assets in terms of property.

How much do patent attorneys make?

The short answer is patent attorneys make the most money with a yearly salary of about $176,000. Let us review why that is the case and go over other legal specialties that come very close to that mark.

What Are Other Law Specialties? How Much Do They Make?

For instance, being a lawyer in New York City is probably more extravagant when compared to being a lawyer in Wyoming or Kansas. Due to this, many students decide to move to more dense metropolitan areas to go to law school. This allows them to gain exposure and make sure there is enough demand for their services.

What Does a Patent Attorney Do?

These attorneys tend to represent entrepreneurs, inventors, or large corporations to argue how their technology is different from what is already on the market. Before patent applications are drafted, patent attorneys devise strategies and advise their clients on how to protect the rights of their intellectual property. Patent applications are explanations of how the invention works, its differences from what is already on the market, and why it should be protected with a patent.

What is it like to be a medical lawyer?

Becoming a medical lawyer is often depicted as filing malpractice lawsuits for the remainder of your life. Even if you never had to work with a medical lawyer before, you might have seen their advertisements. Likely, you passed by a billboard that said, “Were you denied medical care? Call us now!”. Just like the world of medicine, with its endless segments and specialties, medical lawyers have a large spectrum of work they can do. While malpractice is still an option, work concerning public policy, medical benefits, and bioethics can be classified under the health law.

What is corporate law?

Corporate law is a relatively new sector of law when compared to other specializations. This sector is growing profoundly and has gained the interest of many students applying for law school. A corporate lawyer ’s day-to-day responsibilities include advising clients with business transactions, preparing contracts, and assisting with mergers and acquisitions, to name a few. Because corporate law can get very broad depending on the clientele, some corporate lawyers may choose to specialize in topics like bankruptcy, tax or zoning, and securities. Although most corporate lawyers are part of a legal team within a corporation, some lawyers choose to be self-employed. Self-employed lawyers get hired as a fresh set of eyes to present a new perspective to the team.

Do lawyers need special training to be a patent attorney?

Lawyers who represent clients interested in only enforcing their patent rights do not need special training. However, any attorneys interested in patent prosecution must pass an examination known as the patent bar exam. Eligibility for the exam is dependent on technical training or a degree in engineering or other specified sciences.

How much does a corporate lawyer make?

5. Corporate Lawyer – $98,822 annually. Corporate Layers make an average of $98,000 annually, but some of the more successful ones can make well into the triple digits in their salaries, while some make as low as $66,000. The average is $98,000 per year.

Why is there a high earning potential for intellectual property lawyers?

There is a high earning potential for intellectual property lawyers because there are times when the facts regarding intellectual property are hard to dissect and prove evidentially.

What is tax attorney?

This type of attorney represents an organization when they are dealing with government taxing agencies which include federal, state and local entities. Tax attorneys are responsible to their clients for the preparation of legal documents that involve liabilities and for developing plans that help in saving taxes.

What skills do you need to be a trial judge?

They must also possess impeccable verbal and writing skills as they spend a great deal of time divided among speaking and writing to others in matters that pertain to the trial. They must also maintain a sharp memory for remembering significant facts that may come in handy during a trial.

What is corporate lawyer?

A corporate lawyer provides clients with counsel on legal matters pertaining to a variety of different business transactions including the sale of businesses, acquisitions, and mergers.

What is the role of a trial attorney?

The trial attorney must have a strong and comprehensive knowledge of the law. They are also charged with the responsibility of staying abreast of current trends and changes to the law as they occur throughout the length of their careers.

Do tax attorneys have to stay on top of changes?

The tax structure within the United States is an ever-changing animal and tax attorneys are required to stay on top of all changes to the law as they are enacted and when they are proposed. They must know if and when proposed changes to the law are scheduled to take place.

What is the median salary of a lawyer?

Finally, there’s a difference between “median” and “average” salaries. The national median salary for lawyers is $144,230 while the average is $120,910. The median represents the middle number in a given sequence of numbers when it’s ordered by rank. For instance, when quiz scores are listed from lowest to highest—30, 56, 65, 70, 84, 90, 90, 91, 92—the median, or middle, score is 84.

How much does a Biglaw lawyer make?

Outside of Biglaw, the average starting lawyer salary is $73,000. Inside Biglaw, though, beginning compensation jumps to $190,000—2.6 times the average outside of Biglaw and nearly $10,000 per month more! Of course, Biglaw lawyers don’t enjoy the greatest quality of life, but that’s one reason why they get paid so handsomely.

What is a big law?

There’s no standard definition of Biglaw, but it includes the group of private US firms that employ the most lawyers (500 or so), smaller firms that adopt the Biglaw salary scale, and medium-sized firms with substantial international presence. As you’d probably expect, you’ll find Biglaw jobs in big cities.

How much do tax attorneys make?

Tax attorneys make $80,000 on the low side and $105,000 on the high scale, with most practitioners making nearly $100K. This type of attorney represents a company that deals with federal, state, or even local taxing bodies.

What do trial attorneys need to know?

Successful trial attorneys should have a strong, wide-ranging knowledge of the law, but they also need to pay attention to tiny details that might tip the outcome of their cases. They need to stay current with new, potentially precedent-setting cases. Their verbal, writing, and memory skills should also be top-notch.

Why do IP lawyers make so much money?

One of the reasons IP lawyers make so much is due to the fact that it can be difficult to sort out IP facts and prove the case evidentially.

How much does a trial lawyer cost?

Trial lawyer: $134,000 (remember, this is average; trial lawyers especially can be sink-or-swim)

Which city has the highest average salary for lawyers?

Most of the highest paying cities for lawyers are in California. That’s because The Golden State has a higher cost of living. For example, U.S. News reports that in San Jose, lawyers have the highest average income of any city in the United States at $281,420. San Francisco comes in second with $188,910. In, Washington, D.C lawyers make an average of $179,590 annually. Los Angeles ranks fourth with$178,470, followed by Bridgeport, Connecticut at $177,930.

How much does an attorney make?

Indeed estimates that $94,446 is the average salary for an attorney in the United States. It’s important to remember that a lawyer’s salary depends on numerous factors. Averages take into account extreme highs and extreme lows.

How much do personal injury attorneys make?

According to the American Bar Association Journal, personal injury attorneys can earn a salary that exceeds $250,000 per year. However, the average personal injury salary is only $73,000 per years. Attorneys that specialize in a particular focus, such as offshore injuries, aviation accidents, pedestrian accidents, child-related injury claims, commercial accidents and eighteen wheelers, often make higher than average salaries, along with attorneys that focus a greater portion of their practice on specific complex injuries. Some examples of serious (or "catastrophic") injuries includes concussions, rotator cuff injuries, brain injuries, amputations, fractures, crush injuries, crush syndrome, and birth defects.

How much do lawyers make in 2020?

As of December 28, 2020, the average United States lawyers make $167,059 annually. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that lawyers earn an average annual income of $145,300 as of May 2019. However, that number immensely by state.

How much does a criminal defense lawyer make?

As of December 28, 2020, the average criminal defense lawyer’s annual salary is $89,103, but the salary range typically falls between $76,613 and $101,307. Typically, criminal defense lawyers charge between $150-$700 hourly, but with this fee structure the legal bill can quickly reach $15,000 or more.

Who is the richest lawyer in the world?

The world's richest lawyers practice corporate or personal injury law. Wachau Tang is the word’s richest lawyer. He is worth $1.8 billion. Tang is a corporate lawyer who amassed most of his wealth with strategic investment holdings.

How much does an anesthesiologist make in 2020?

According to salary.com, as of December 28, 2020, the average Anesthesiologist salary in the United States made $393,800, and typically ranged between $341,200 and $446.500. The second highest paying annual salary are surgeons at $252,040, followed by facial surgeons at $237,570, and gynecologists at $244,610.

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Criminal Law

Bankruptcy Law

Family Law

Immigration Law

Civil Rights Lawyer

Personal Injury Lawyer

Salaries For Other Types of Lawyers

  1. Tax Attorneys / Tax Lawyers– The average salary for Tax Lawyers with extensive tax laws knowledge is $88,863 an year.
  2. IP Lawyers, IP Attorneys– The average Intellectual Property Attorney salary is $174,562 as of August 27, 2022, but the range for intellectual property lawyers typically falls between $158,3…
  1. Tax Attorneys / Tax Lawyers– The average salary for Tax Lawyers with extensive tax laws knowledge is $88,863 an year.
  2. IP Lawyers, IP Attorneys– The average Intellectual Property Attorney salary is $174,562 as of August 27, 2022, but the range for intellectual property lawyers typically falls between $158,390 and $...
  3. Medical Lawyers – Salaries as high as $155,331 and as low as $20,154, the majority of Medical Lawyersalaries currently range between $31,950 (25th percentile) to $83,563 (75th percentile) with top...
  4. Real Estate Lawyers– The average Real Estate Attorney salary in the United States is $152,863 as of August 27, 2022, but the range typically falls between $133,300 and $169,371, including insurance...