Over the years of their consultant careers, most lawyers have chosen to go into private practice - that is, devoting full time to the performance of legal services for private clients. These are the lawyers most commonly known to the public. A majority of lawyers engaged in private practice still work by themselves, without immediate assistance of any partner, although they may have salaried associates. Others work together with colleagues in law firms that range in size from two lawyers to as many as several hundred attorneys. Typically, law firms are composed of partners, who own the practice and share expenses and earnings on an agreed basis, and associates, who are salaried lawyers working for the firm and usually expecting one day to become partners themselves.
Most lawyers, particularly private practitioners, spend very little time in court and handle few criminal cases. Part of their consultant job, most of their work hours are spent in their offices consulting with clients. Moreover, they are also doing legal research, drafting various documents, and giving advice, much of which is designed to avoid a lawsuit or trial. The specific nature of the work a lawyer does depends on whether the lawyer or the firm has a general practice or one that is more specialized. A general practitioner is a counselor, adviser, and at times, advocates, willing to accept employment in the broadest possible spectrum of legal problems. Of all the lawyers, it is the general practitioner who is most often called upon by individuals in times of personal distress or need.
As a general practitioner, a lawyers consulting job include drafting wills, settling estates, preparing contracts and leases, arranging real estate transfers, negotiating the purchase or sale of businesses or homes, solving tax problems, and handling family matters, like divorce, separation, adoption, and child custody. In addition to the trial practice, which it occasionally involves, a general practitioners’ work may also include representing workers before compensation boards and appearing for clients before other administrative bodies. Specialized practitioners limit themselves to one area of law, whether it is taxation, criminal defense, estate work, trials of personal injury cases, or any of the many other specialties. More often than not their clients are referred to them by other lawyers rather than by previous clients. Frequently specialists are lawyers who were formerly engaged in a more general practice and found that they prefer to devote their time to the development of a particular specialty.
In their consulting careers, specialists are likely to have their offices in metropolitan areas, state capitals, or country seats, since a less populous area generally does not provide sufficient demand for their services. Only in some jurisdiction s can one become a certified specialist, and there are restrictions on designating oneself a specialist. As a general rule, lawyers who work in firms are expected to specialize to some extent in the work that they do. One of the reasons for working with other lawyers rather than working alone is to save time and effort that result from taking the fullest advantage of the particular training or skill of each partner and associate. Although individual partners are likely to have certain clients for whom they are primarily responsible, each problem coming into the firm will usually be resolved by the person within the firm most qualified to treat it. Thus, a partnership of half a dozen lawyers handling a general practice is likely to have one lawyer, who concentrates on trial work, another who specializes in tax matters, a third who is primarily responsible for trust and estate wok, and so on down the line. This same division of labor is apparent in the very large firms as well. These firms, predominantly located in major cities, have the ability to offer a wide range of highly developed skills under one roof. They attract clients with diversified needs, who are likely to be the bigger businesses and wealthier individuals.
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