Top 5 Deadliest Practice Areas for Lawyers
Law practice is dangerous.
It's one of the things they don't teach you in law school, but becomes clear as you learn about more and more lawyers dying. We're not talking about age-related, or disease-dictated death.
We're talking about the cold, hard fact that law practice can kill you. Most of the time it's an angry client or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time -- like in the wrong kind of practice.
Family law
Family law is a euphemism for people going through the hardest emotional battles of their lives. Unfortunately for the lawyers who fight those battles, sometimes it's their last.
So many clients have killed family lawyers, its' hard to keep count.
Criminal Law
There are cross-over issues from family law to criminal law. For example, a divorcing husband may become a criminal client cif he abuses his spouse.
The difference is the family law client doesn't have handcuffs -- yet.
Juvenile Law
Kids are like people, only smaller.
Too often, their problems start in broken homes or on the streets. When one lands in juvenile court, the potential for lashing out against the lawyer is always there -- usually with more hormones and less judgment than adults.
Trial Practice
If you haven't met one, trial lawyers are typically very competitive. They are in it for all the marbles.
Unfortunately, some do not take losing very well. In a profession with a disproportionately high suicide rate, too many kill themselves.
Marijuana Law
Cannabis attorneys won't tell you this, but marijuana is a gateway drug -- for lawyers. They start out representing small- time pot growers, but they want the big-time clients.
That's a risky business. Just ask El Chapo's lawyers.
Related Resources:
- When Lawyers Need a Lawyer: Divorce, Discipline, Crime (FindLaw's Strategist)
- How to Handle the Expert 'Money' Question at Trial (FindLaw's Strategist)
- When the Going Gets Weird, Do You Withdraw? (FindLaw's Strategist)
