SOURCE: http://www.wetfeet.com/asp/careerprofiles_overview.asp?careerpk=21
Firms offer the position of associate to recent law school graduates and laterals (lawyers who change firms). Associates do the bulk of the grunt work in a law firm–from producing documents and doing due diligence (reviewing and substantiating claims) to writing briefs and running deals.
They usually work long hours–2,000 to 2,400 billable hours per year are required by most major firms (which easily translates into 70 to 80 hours per week)–for attorneys who hope to achieve the sought-after partnership (or in some cases, an annual bonus that can significantly increase their annual income). In small firms, associates maintain a more manageable schedule, but salaries aren't as high.
Associates in private practice either work as transactional (corporate) lawyers or litigators. Transactional lawyers deal with a wide range of business issues–corporate financing, contracts, acquisitions, and bankruptcy, to name a few. The goal of such work is to get deals done and avoid future legal problems.
Litigators, in contrast, deal with legal problems after they occur. In other words, they handle issues that could land their clients in court: breaches of contract, securities-law problems, rogue trading, class-action suits, anti-trust actions, employment-related problems, white-collar crime and the like.
In-house counsel refers to one or more attorneys hired to work within a company's legal department. Attorneys in such positions advise management on legal issues ranging from accounting compliance to merger-and-acquisition negotiations. In-house counsel generally work more reasonable hours than attorneys in big firms, and positions are typically filled by transactional attorneys with three or more years' experience.
Attorneys deterred by the hierarchical structure of law firms sometimes start their own practices. This is an option more commonly chosen by seasoned veterans with solid client bases, although ambitious recent law school graduates have been known to try their hand at it.
Starting your own firm is an exercise in entrepreneurship–in addition to practicing law you are running a business. Flexible hours and the freedom to choose interesting projects are the perks, while the lack of administrative personnel and resources are a couple of the disadvantages.
Public defenders are appointed by the court to conduct criminal defenses for people who can't afford representation. They get a lot of courtroom experience early on and get paid better than most people think. But dealing with a lot of hopeless cases–and judges–can sour a young lawyer's idealism about the system very quickly. The work is stressful, but new cases every day make for an interesting career.
Assistant DAs aid district attorneys in prosecuting criminal cases in a city or county's municipal or superior courts. The office of the district attorney presents evidence to a grand jury in order to obtain a criminal indictment. The fast-paced days in court and high-profile trials are highlights to this job, but the work can be draining.
Legal-aid lawyers defend indigent clients in civil cases. Funded by the federal Legal Services Corporation and some states, salaries are often low, but the work is meaningful. While this position offers a lot of responsibility from the outset, many legal-aid attorneys burn out on the job quickly after representing too many unsavory defendants or seeing how cold or inefficient the justice system can be.
AUSAs are appointed to work with state law-enforcement officials to put together federal cases against individuals or institutions. Such jobs are relatively specialized; different AUSAs will work on, for example, DEA cases, securities-law cases, and racketeering cases.
Among the most prestigious jobs for lawyers are positions with impact litigation advocacy organizations. These include the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Youth Law, NOW, NARAL, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the Environmental Defense Fund.
Competition for these positions is fierce and the pay is relatively low–with the exception of positions at environmental law organizations, which tend to be better funded. The advantage of these positions is that they're both intellectually stimulating and socially meaningful. The work usually consists of a lot of brief writing and advocacy, and in some cases there is a great deal of client contact, too.
Law professors are attorneys who teach their trade to law students. Working on a tenure-track or adjunct basis, professors spend most of their time teaching in the classroom and researching legal issues. They can run clinical programs (giving students hands-on experience representing underprivileged clients) or teach classes such as constitutional law, tax law, and intellectual-property law. Competition is fierce for these positions, and spots usually go to experienced practitioners.
To help you decide whether the paralegal profession is a good career move for you, you first need to know what a paralegal is and information on salaries and benefits. NFPA's Telly Award Winning Video "Paralegals: Enhancing Practice, Professionalism & Profitability," can be viewed at no charge. You will need to add it to the shopping cart and proceed through the checkout.
SOURCE: http://www.paralegals.org/Choice/home.html
