Lawyers who advise, defend, and fight for people, companies, and the government in every area of life.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Corporate Lawyer: Advises companies on deals, mergers, contracts, and the rules that govern how businesses are run. Typical pay $200k.
Trial / Litigation Attorney: Represents clients in lawsuits, from gathering evidence to arguing in front of a judge and jury. Typical pay $150k.
Criminal Defense Attorney: Defends people charged with crimes and makes sure the government proves its case fairly. Typical pay $115k.
Personal Injury Lawyer: Represents people hurt in accidents or by unsafe products and wins them money for their injuries. Typical pay $120k.
Estate Planning Attorney: Helps people write wills and trusts so their money and property pass to the right people when they die. Typical pay $120k.
Tax Attorney: Helps people and companies follow tax law, save money legally, and fight the IRS when there's a dispute. Typical pay $165k.
Environmental Lawyer: Works on cases about pollution, endangered species, clean water, and climate rules. Typical pay $125k.
In-House Counsel: A lawyer employed directly by one company, like Nike or a hospital, handling all its legal needs. Typical pay $195k.
Employment & Labor Lawyer: Handles legal issues between workers and employers, like discrimination, wages, and union contracts. Typical pay $140k.
Real Estate Attorney: Handles buying, selling, leasing, and developing land and buildings. Typical pay $125k.
Law Professor: Teaches law students and writes scholarship that can shape how judges and lawmakers think. Typical pay $135k.
Appellate Attorney: Specializes in appeals, asking higher courts to reverse or uphold decisions made at trial. Typical pay $170k.
District Attorney (Elected): The elected chief prosecutor for a county or district who decides which crimes get charged and runs an office of prosecutors. Typical pay $165k.
City Attorney: The lawyer for a city or county government who writes local laws, defends the city in lawsuits, and advises the mayor and council. Typical pay $135k.
Securities Lawyer: Helps companies sell stock and bonds legally, take a company public (IPO), and follow SEC disclosure rules. Typical pay $200k.
Antitrust Lawyer: Works on whether big company mergers or business practices unfairly crush competition, either for companies or for the government. Typical pay $205k.
White-Collar Defense Lawyer: Defends executives and companies accused of fraud, bribery, insider trading, and other financial crimes. Typical pay $210k.
Insurance Defense Attorney: Defends people and businesses who get sued after car crashes, slip-and-falls, and other accidents, paid by their insurance company. Typical pay $115k.
Bar Disciplinary Counsel: A lawyer who investigates and prosecutes other lawyers accused of stealing client money, lying to courts, or breaking ethics rules. Typical pay $118k.
Law Firm Pro Bono Counsel: A big-firm lawyer whose full-time job is running the free legal work the firm does for people and charities who cannot pay. Typical pay $210k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Prosecutor: Represents the government in criminal cases, deciding what charges to bring and proving them in court. Typical pay $95k.
Public Defender: A government-paid lawyer who defends people who can't afford to hire one. Typical pay $85k.
Immigration Attorney: Helps people get visas, green cards, citizenship, or asylum, and defends them in immigration court. Typical pay $90k.
Family Law Attorney: Handles divorces, child custody, adoptions, and other cases about families. Typical pay $100k.
Civil Rights Attorney: Fights discrimination and government abuse by bringing lawsuits that protect people's rights. Typical pay $100k.
Legal Aid Attorney: Gives free legal help to low-income people facing eviction, debt, or loss of benefits. Typical pay $68k.
Elder Law Attorney: Helps older adults and their families with long-term care costs, Medicaid, guardianships, and protecting seniors from financial abuse. Typical pay $105k.
Workers' Compensation Attorney: Represents workers injured on the job (or the employers and insurers who pay) in claims for medical bills and lost wages. Typical pay $100k.
Contract / Document Review Attorney: A licensed lawyer hired project-by-project to review documents for big lawsuits and investigations, often remotely. Typical pay $75k.
Licensed Legal Paraprofessional: A new kind of licensed legal professional, not a full lawyer, who can give legal advice and even appear in court on simpler matters like divorces, evictions, and debt cases. Typical pay $62k.
Post-Conviction Innocence Attorney: Reopens old criminal cases to free people who were wrongly convicted, using new DNA tests, recanted testimony, and hidden evidence. Typical pay $92k.
Starter: fastest way in
Non-Attorney Disability Representative: Represents people applying for Social Security disability benefits at hearings, without being a lawyer. Typical pay $52k.
Tribal Court Lay Advocate: Represents people in tribal courts, many of which allow trained, licensed non-lawyer advocates who know the tribe's laws and traditions. Typical pay $48k.
DOJ Accredited Representative: A non-lawyer authorized by the U.S. Justice Department to give immigration legal help through a recognized nonprofit. Typical pay $52k.
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.