[dropcap]W[/dropcap]henever they are asked what they want to be when they grow up, most children will respond that they would either be a fireman or a doctor. Rare is the child who would answer differently, and much rarer is the child who would want to rank amongst the best lawyers.
Lawyers are often seen as successful and rich individuals who go into trials to defend justice and always seem to win. Some of those that are in the know see that as stressed out individuals who do a lot of research and go into a lot of meetings and crime scene investigations. This often leads to a confusion during offline conversations where people decide what exactly do lawyers do on a daily basis.
Before listing out what attorneys do, you need to know that there are several kinds of lawyers that specialize in different aspects of the legal system.
Criminal
Lawyers who specialize in criminal law represent clients that are in court for criminal charges that were filed either by them or against them.
Personal Injury
Their clientele is often those who have suffered an injury resulting from an accident and these cases often result in compensation for damages and injuries resulting from the accident.
Intellectual Property
Copyrights and trademarks are the usual fields of expertise of Intellectual Property lawyers, although they can also take care of patent and trade secret issues.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice lawyers go after doctors who have given the wrong treatment or has diagnosed an illness incorrectly and has resulted in personal injury.
Corporate
Corporate lawyers specialize in securities and exchange laws, as well as corporate governance and compliance.
Estate Planning
These lawyers specialize in the drawing up of wills and trusts.
Family
Family lawyers are the experts that family members go to when it comes to divorce or prenuptial proceedings. They also handle custody and child adoption cases.
Human Rights
These lawyers more often work with grassroots movements and are often seen fighting for equal rights.
General Practice
General practice lawyers specialize in more than one aspect of the legal system.
A Day in the Life of a Lawyer
The preceding list is just some of the more common types of lawyers but there are more fields that a lawyer specializes in. However, this does not mean that their daily routine would not be the same. Looking at a general practitioners diary, here is how a typical workday would look like:
- Research – while most attorneys retain interns to do the research for them, this does not exempt them from conducting research on their own and studying the different angles of a case, as well as how similar cases were conducted and won in the past. The most successful lawyers spend a lot of time researching, studying and preparing for the cases in which they have won.
- Phone Calls – a good lawyer bills a sizeable number of hours for phone calls. This is justified as lawyers would need to talk to court clerks and officials, judges and their clients. Some would even all other lawyers just to consult with them regarding the details of a case they are working on.
- Court Appearances – did you know that court appearances constitute the smallest percentage of hours in a lawyer’s daily life? While the public thinks that this is all that they do, court appearances are rare as most parties would settle off the court. Some lawyers do spend a lot of time inside the courts but the proceedings are not as fast as the TV would like you to believe. Most court cases will run for hours without moving forward in a case, although some do take only hours to finish especially if the evidence if final and conclusive.
- Meetings – lawyers hold meetings like anybody else working in a corporate office. These meetings are often with clients and colleagues to discuss ongoing cases, while some would have court scheduled meetings in the case of custody and adoption trials.
A typical day in the life of a lawyer is not a nine-to-five affair, most steinpag lawyers can rack up to 80 hours in a week, most of which are spent researching and calling people on the phone. It takes a lot of dedication and years of hard work before the number of hours is reduced to a more manageable one but if you’re not it that level yet, a good time management scheme and more than a dollop of common sense will get you a long way in accomplishing the daily tasks of an attorney.
