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Family law?

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civeni

Member
Recently I've read some pretty mixed feelings regarding family law firm. I've heard some people say that it's the best type of law to go into for the future, and I've also heard that I need to stay away from it at all costs. Some positive things I've read are that it's pretty much recession proof and the work can be pretty interesting. Some negative things I've read are that the clients never pay you. I hate when these sort of things happen!

I'm also aware that most family lawyers deal primarily with divorce cases, but do family lawyers dabble in anything outside of divorce, or any that you guys have heard of i.e. specific adoption lawyers, child abuse attorneys.

I'm just trying to get a feel for all sorts of "specializations" while I'm still in my undergrad, and this one appeals to me especially due to the interaction with people face-to-face.

Thanks guys!
 


doucar

Junior Member
I stayed away from family law because I tended to get too emotionally involved having to deal with every negative thing in the clients life.
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
You are still in undergrad. With a few exceptions, a law degree and license is your ticket to go into any area of legal work that you'd like to do. If you are pretty sure in what area of law you want to work when you get to law school then you may pick courses best suited to help you get started in that area. Otherwise, take courses in a variety of areas of law. It is not all that uncommon that a law student discovers an area of law that he or she had never thought about (or perhaps even knew existed) that ends up being the area that most excites them and changes the path they had initially planned. Unlike undergrad, law students don't pick a major and the law degree you get will be the same regardless of which courses you decide to take. That is one of the best things about the law degree: you can do a lot of things with it and you can change paths one or more times over your career. One of my good friends in law school started out as a prosecutor, then a public defender, and now does civil rights cases.

I don't recommend picking an area of law because you think it will make you the most money or you think is more recession proof (and recessions are temporary anyway). Using those factors to decide what area you'll pursue may land you in work that you don't enjoy and maybe even hate. I would instead pick the type of work you find most enjoyable and that best suits your set of skills. You'll tend to do better work in something you enjoy, and when you do good work you can make a good living at most anything. You'll spend most of your waking hours over the next 3-4 decades working. It'll be a lot more fun and less stressful if you pick work you enjoy.

There are a lot of areas of law in which you deal with people face to face frequently. Most any trial work involves a lot of interaction both with your client, the court staff, any experts you need, the witnesses you'll use, and with the opposing side. A significant part of that work is negotiation over a possible settlement. Over 90% of litigation cases never get to court. They are settled or disposed of some other way (e.g. motion to dismiss, motion for summary judgment, etc). But there are significant differences in the subject matter of the types of cases you work. Family law involves some of the most intense emotional issues and in divorces the warring spouses may be more focused on revenge than a logical settlement. As a result, that area of law can have some of the most uncooperative and demanding clients. Many of the family lawyers I know suffer from high stress and the burn out rate is higher than in some other areas of law.

My main area of law is tax law. Unlike other tax professionals, tax lawyers do not prepare many tax returns. Rather they concentrate on two main things for their clients: tax planning and tax controversy (disputes with the tax agency over what the correct amount of tax is and dealing with tax agency enforcement actions). There is significant personal interaction in tax law that most people wouldn't think is there. Particularly in the tax controversy work you'll spend a significant amount of time discussing your clients situation with your client and with the auditor/agent/officer of the tax agency. It also involves a lot of math, so if you don't like math this isn't going to be one of your top picks. But because the cases I have don't have the emotions involved like family law does, my clients are more rational and are focused on the bottom line: paying the least they need to pay to the government and for the tax professionals they hire. Very, very few of my clients express a desire to go to court over principle. There isn't a lot of high minded principles to vindicate in tax law. That fact makes my dealings with clients and the tax agencies focused on the details of the tax law and practical matters about what result is going to get the client the least money coming out of his/her pocket. In short, I have far less drama and people crises/emotional issues in my work than a family law attorney does. That reduces my stress which contributes to a happier, healthier life for me. Prehaps you thrive on stress and the demands of something like family law would suit you. The point is that there are quality of life issues you should think about. People will tell you that you "should" go into various areas of law for a bunch of different reasons (and often unsaid is that it is the area they just like best). I wouldn't worry so much about what others think you should do, either in law or in life generally. It's your life and you ought to make the most of it doing things you enjoy and find satisfying.

Finally, law school simply gives you the fundamental tools needed to do legal work. You end up learning much of your particular area of law after you get out of law school. What you see in law school isn't going to match the reality of actually working in a particular area of law.

Your main job in undergrad is to prepare for getting into the law school that will best suit you. Keep as high a GPA as you can. Take courses that involve skills you need as a lawyer, like logic, writing, speaking, etc. There are a wide range of courses that can do that for you. Computer programming teaches a lot about logic, for example. Some business classes are excellent for learning some basics of financial analysis and also negotiation. Any course that requires a lot of writing is likely to be beneficial. In other words, for the undergrad looking to go into law, your focus should be more on which courses will help you build the skills you need more than the particular subject matter of the course. It doesn't really matter what major you have, you can get into law school with most any major or background. One classmate of mine was a former cop, another a retired Air Force general who spent a lot of time flying fighter and bomber aircraft. There was a married couple who were current military officers and the military was footing the entire law school expenses. Another had been a city council member and another a former mayor. Several were business executives taking advantage of the combined MBA/JD program my university offered. One had been a teacher (and returned to teaching after law school). I was an IRS officer before law school. Majors that classmates had coming straight from undergrad included phyisical education, history, political science, math, multicellular micro biology (she went into patent law, where you need a science/engineering background), engineering, nursing, child development, psychology, history, foreign languages, medicine, and, of course, business degrees like I had.
 
Family law may be profitable, with cases ranging from divorce to adoption and child abuse. While recession-resistant, issues such as customer payments occur. Personal interaction is appealing.
 

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