Career Guides
Free guides for attorneys and legal staff: bar admission, paralegal credentials, pay, and career paths for every law firm role.
Attorneys advise clients, draft and negotiate documents, and represent people in disputes.
See attorney duties, work settings, job titles and pay.
An associate attorney is a licensed, non-owner lawyer at a law firm.
See the day-to-day job, class years, skills, hiring path and starting salaries.
A senior associate is a law firm lawyer past the junior years who runs matters, supervises juniors and takes client contact directly.
Duties, skills and jobs.
Of counsel is a law firm title for a lawyer outside the associate and partner track.
See the of counsel meaning, the day-to-day role, and who holds it.
A law firm partner is an attorney with an ownership stake in a firm — or the title without equity at multi-tier firms.
What partners do day to day.
What does a personal injury attorney do?
See the day-to-day work, the case lifecycle, who employs PI lawyers, and how to build a plaintiff-side career.
What does a family law attorney do?
See the day-to-day duties, employers, skills, caseload and career path behind divorce and custody cases.
What does a criminal defense attorney do?
See the day-to-day work, where defense attorneys work, retained vs court-appointed practice, and career paths.
What does an immigration lawyer do?
See the day-to-day work, practice areas, employers, credentials, and where immigration attorneys find jobs.
What does an estate planning attorney do?
Day-to-day work — wills, trusts, probate and trust administration — plus employers, skills and the career path.
What does a real estate attorney do?
See the day-to-day work — closings, contracts, leases, land use, title and disputes — plus skills, employers and jobs.
What does an employment attorney do?
See the day-to-day work, the plaintiff, management and labor sides, where they work, skills and the career path.
What does a bankruptcy attorney do?
The consumer debtor, creditor and restructuring sides of the practice, the daily work, and who employs these attorneys.
What does a workers' compensation attorney do?
The claimant and defense sides of the practice, the day-to-day work, and who employs comp attorneys.
What an insurance defense attorney does: defending insureds on a carrier's assignment, panel firms vs staff counsel, daily work, caseload and career path.
What does a corporate attorney do?
The work — M&A, financing, securities, governance, contracts — where corporate lawyers practice, and how to become one.
A litigation attorney handles disputes from complaint to trial: pleadings, discovery, motions, depositions and appeals.
See the job, skills and employers.
What does a patent attorney do?
See the day-to-day work in patents, trademarks and copyright, the USPTO registration path, and where IP attorneys work.
What does a tax attorney do?
See the day-to-day work — tax planning, controversy, estate and wealth tax — plus skills, employers, pay and tax attorney jobs.
In-house counsel is the lawyer a company employs as its own — one client, the business itself.
See the day-to-day duties, employers, credentials and pay.
A contract attorney is a licensed attorney hired for a defined project or term.
The work, the employers, the licensing rules and the pay data.
A document review attorney reviews case documents for responsiveness and privilege — the day-to-day job, employers, skills, pay and the job search.
A public defender is a government lawyer who represents defendants who cannot afford a private attorney.
Job, offices, caseloads, pay and how to become one.
A prosecutor is a government lawyer who pursues criminal charges.
Learn the day-to-day duties, employers, credentials, caseloads and pay.
A government attorney is a lawyer for a federal, state or local government — agency counsel, AG offices, city attorneys, JAG.
See the duties, employers and pay.
A law clerk researches and drafts for judges or law firm attorneys.
See how firm clerks, judicial clerks and summer associates differ, and what the job pays.
What is a paralegal?
The ABA's definition, what paralegals do day to day, where they work, how to become one, and the BLS median pay of $62,890 (May 2025).
What does a litigation paralegal do?
Duties across pleadings, discovery, depositions and trial, plus BLS median pay of $62,890 for all paralegals (May 2025).
What a personal injury paralegal does: client intake, medical records and demand packages, the shift into litigation, contingency-firm pace and BLS pay data.
What a family law paralegal does: divorce and custody casework, financial disclosures and court forms, plus BLS pay for all paralegals (May 2025).
What does an immigration paralegal do?
See the specialty's duties, the legal limits on the role, how to get in, and BLS pay data for paralegals (SOC 23-2011).
What does a corporate paralegal do?
Entity formation, contracts and M&A closing support under attorney supervision — plus employers, certification and pay.
What does a real estate paralegal do?
Closings, title, commercial deals, leases, plus the $62,890 May 2025 BLS median for all paralegals and legal assistants.
What an estate planning paralegal does: wills and trusts drafting, signings, probate files and family contact, plus BLS pay for all paralegals (May 2025).
What does a bankruptcy paralegal do?
Petitions, schedules and court filings, 2026 filing volumes and BLS median pay of $62,890 for all paralegals (May 2025).
What does a legal assistant do?
The day-to-day duties, what the title means at different firms versus paralegal, where the jobs are, and what the role pays.
What does a legal secretary do?
See the day-to-day duties from BLS, the median pay, the job outlook, and how to start a legal secretary career.
What does a legal intake specialist do?
See the day-to-day duties, how an intake call runs, who hires, and what BLS pay data shows for this law firm role.
What does a legal receptionist do at a law firm?
See the day-to-day front-desk duties, how the role leads to paralegal work, and what the pay data shows.
What a docketing clerk does at a law firm: owning the deadline calendar, rules-based date calculation, the court-clerk distinction, and BLS proxy pay data.
What does a legal billing specialist do?
See the day-to-day duties, time entry and pre-bills, e-billing and LEDES, and how to start in this law firm role.
What does a law firm administrator do?
The business side of a firm — finance, HR, facilities and tech — plus the ALA role definitions and the CLM credential.
What an eDiscovery specialist does day to day, the analyst-to-director career ladder, CEDS and Relativity certifications, and the pay data.
What a litigation support specialist does day to day, the databases and trial technology in the job, CEDS and Relativity certifications, and pay data.
What legal nurse consultants do day to day, which cases use them, how the voluntary LNCC certification works, and where to find legal nurse consultant jobs.
What a legal case manager does at a law firm: owning the caseload from sign-up to settlement, how the role differs from a paralegal, and BLS proxy pay data.
What a legal recruiter does day to day, agency vs in-house roles, how recruiters get paid, how to become one, and BLS proxy pay data for the role.