A lawyer can handle a wide range of different cases and work in a wide range of fields. Some will work in personal injury, handling individual tort cases. Others will work in corporate law, where they deal with business transactions and take home larger salaries. Others will work in the public interest, doing something like public defense. There is a criminal side to the law and a civil side, and many lawyers find that they favor one over the other for whatever reason.

In order to become a lawyer, one has to go through a college undergraduate program and enter law school. In the past, a lawyer could sit for the bar without attending law school, but that is not the case anymore. A lawyer must now have a JD from an acting law school. From there, they have to sit for the bar in whatever state they plan to practice in. This is a test of both knowledge and character, as a lawyer must be found fit to work in the field.

Starting salaries for attorneys depend upon what kind of law they want to practice. Some graduating students enter big, corporate firms, where they make $160,000 in starting salary with bonuses. From there, the raises are annual and many end up well over $200,000. Attorneys who enter criminal defense or the public interest can make significantly lower than that. They usually pull home somewhere in the $50,000 to $60,000 range. Even these salaries will escalate over time, so a lawyer can expect to pull in $100,000 after a few years on the job.

The work can range from interesting to quite mundane. Corporate lawyers work on deals and contracts. Some handle mergers and acquisitions, while others handle trusts and estates. For criminal defense attorneys, it is all about representing clients and getting them the best possible result for their situation. A lawyer might practice in front of the court often or he might do a lot of paperwork at the beginning. It depends upon what area of the law you enter, as there are many different ways it could go.