Also called: Appellate Lawyer, Supreme Court Advocate
Specializes in appeals, asking higher courts to reverse or uphold decisions made at trial.
Appellate lawyers live in research and writing. They spend weeks crafting a 50-page brief, then get maybe 15 minutes to argue in front of a panel of judges who interrupt with tough questions. The very best argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 8 years after high school. JD, usually plus a judicial clerkship.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: English, Philosophy, History, Classics, Political Science.
Growing about average (about 4% over 10 years). BLS projection for all lawyers (2024-34).
Medium risk for 10 years. AI drafts briefs and finds cases in seconds, squeezing junior writing work; top-level argument and judgment stay human.
Classes: AP English Language, AP U.S. Government, Latin or a world language, Speech and debate.
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.