Also called: Environmental Lawyer, Natural Resources Attorney
Handles lawsuits and regulations about pollution, endangered species, energy projects, and land use.
You might represent a community suing a polluter, defend a company in an EPA enforcement case, or help a solar developer get permits. Days are research, writing briefs, negotiating, and sometimes arguing in court.
Lawyers overall; nonprofit and government attorneys earn less, big firms much more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 7 years after high school. Bachelor's plus a JD (3 years) and bar exam; environmental law programs at schools like Vermont and Lewis & Clark.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Environmental Studies, Political Science, Pre-Law.
Growing about average (about 4% over 10 years). Lawyers overall.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI drafts briefs and speeds legal research, squeezing junior work; strategy, negotiation and court stay human.
Classes: English, Speech or debate, AP Government, Environmental science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 23-1011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.