Legal Malpractice or Professional Responsibility Lawyer
This is a rather market subset of attorneys, and there aren't that many that concentrate on those areas of law as their specialization. Legal counsel or Professional Responsibility lawyers usually sue or protect attorneys when a lawyer has violated their duties to a client (i.e. dedicated malpractice) or if a lawyer needs protection against a former customer who's suing them. Lawyers, similar to doctors, accountants, government officials, etc., have a rigorous set of industry certain rules they need to abide by while practicing law. When they actually violate or are accused of violating any of these principles, professional liability attorneys and legal malpractice lawyers become involved. Occasionally these lawyers are used before anything actually goes wrong just to make sure what is about to be accomplished by a lawyer is really allowed.
Criminal Defense Lawyer
Criminal defense lawyers help protect individuals accused of committing a crime against prosecution from the authorities, with the goal of reducing their sentencing or helping them stay out of jail. The crimes handled by criminal defense lawyers range from little offenses like shoplifting to serious crimes such as DUI, drug trafficking, assault and battery life, or even murder. Many attorneys who practice criminal defense had previous experience working on the prosecution side in the Office of the District Attorney (DA), either while in law school or later.
Intellectual Property Lawyer (IP)
Intellectual Property, or IP, attorneys deal with anything having to do with protecting intellectual property, that is intangible (something you can't touch such as a tune or an idea) real estate. The three key regions of law within intellectual property are copyright, trademark, and patent. Some IP lawyers just focus on trademark and copyright problems, while others simply focus on patent problems. Patent law is one area that requires additional licensing than just a regular law degree and also requires a technical background (like one in technology, software development, chemistry, or life sciences). Since IP laws are very technical and distinct from one another, attorneys don't tend to deal with each of these problems (nevertheless IP law firms will have a team of attorneys who can help you with some of them). Like many areas of legislation, there are ordinary IP attorneys and IP litigators. The normal IP attorneys help with all the filings required to safeguard your IP, while litigators would be the ones who go to court to battle who possesses what IP and how much IP protects the individual in a specific dispute.
Finance & Securities Lawyer
Finance and Securities lawyers only operate in a very specific sector of law. They tend to just deal with problems regarding banks and individuals issuing money, or to firms selling stock. They are also able to help defend clients if the IRS or SEC files a complaint against a individual or a corporation.
Entertainment Lawyer
Entertainment attorneys deal with a number of entertainment difficulties, mainly about entertainment contracts. They draft and review licensing agreements, management contracts, contracts having to do with exemptions and any other aspect of the entertainment industry you may imagine. If you reside in Los Angeles or New York, amusement law is a favorite, but becoming an entertainment lawyer is one of the most difficult things to do due to high competition. Most entertainment lawyers have past experience working as a different sort of attorney.
So, you now understand a little more about what kinds of attorneys there are. If you are wanting to employ a lawyer, it's very important to figure out how to find the ideal attorney for your requirements. Although there are many overlapping practice areas, each type of law is different and you'll want to make sure that you get a lawyer that specializes in the sort of legal service that you want. Doing otherwise is risky and can cause unnecessary legal problems in the future.
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