The majority of criminal defence solicitors will work in areas of general crime, usually in a high street law firm or larger firms focusing on a range of publicly funded work. Some general criminal law firms have the capacity and expertise to undertake white collar crime, although this is traditionally undertaken by specialist firms. You are likely on any given day to be involved in liaising between your client and counsel (if a barrister has been instructed to represent your client), reviewing evidence, taking instructions; you may also be involved in a conference with your client and counsel. You could be out of the office meeting your client anywhere – at court, at a police station or in prison. While the overall hours are not uniformly long they can be unpredictable, and if you are at a firm which provides a duty solicitor service, you could be ‘on call’ 24 hours.
Commercial lawyers will tend to have a specialist practice area (e.g. Intellectual Property) or industry focus (e.g. Technology, Media & Telecoms). The exception to this is in smaller firms, where the term simply refers to those whose clients are businesses rather than individuals. Commercial solicitor duties in the commercial legal sector is dependent on which area the lawyer works in, but much of the transactional work focuses on protecting each client’s business interests by managing a wide range of risks. For example, this could mean interpreting the law to decide how to protect a client against liability for claims made on their website. Day-to-day work for a lawyer at a commercial law firm involves drawing up a wide range of commercial agreements and standard forms of words, such as disclaimers.
Corporate law quite frequently involves a cross-border element, and is therefore a department found in the large international firms and major City firms. Transactions can be public (when they involve companies listed on a stock exchange) or private (when they involve companies privately owned by individuals) in nature. The M&A department of a firm usually also handles private equity-financed transactions. As an M&A lawyer, your clients will span an extremely broad range of industries, from automotive to media and entertainment to mining. Certain law firms may choose to focus their M&A work in several specific industries, such as energy, communications, and technology only, for example. Clients will not necessarily be large companies – many of them will be smaller growing businesses or the smaller branches of large companies. You will represent buyers and sellers, as well as the financial advisers who structure the entire merger or acquisition process.
Technology law is any kind of law that has to do with the application of scientific knowledge to practical use. It is an area of law that involves what the government can do with the information gathered using technology. It also involves the rights and obligations that private corporations and individuals have when they use technology. Technology law involves both private individuals and corporations as well as the rights and obligations of government agencies. Technology lawyers handle complex matters. Their work involves constitutional law, business law and commerce. Lawyers who work on technology issues have the opportunity to work for large companies and growing companies. In their work, they solve legal problems and contribute to the growth of enterprise. At the same time, technology lawyers work to ensure that society uses technology responsibly. They work to help their clients understand how to use technology to their best advantage while establishing limits for privacy and free speech.
Law firms tend to specialise in either representing claimants (i.e. the injured party) or defendants. Personal injury lawyers who represent claimants either work directly for an individual, or on their behalf through insurers or unions if their claim is related to their work. Those who specialise in defendant work often act on behalf of the defendant’s insurers. For example, the motor insurance company in the case of a car accident. A personal injury lawyer deals with claims for compensation made as a result of accidents, diseases or the clinical negligence of the medical profession. Due to the complexity of Personal Injury law, professionals practising in this area tend to specialise in niche areas of interest or expertise such as spinal injuries or motorcycle accident claims.
Environmental law is an up-and-coming area of law in an age of concern over the ‘footprint’ humans are leaving on our planet. It covers diverse areas such as climate control, sources of energy, pollution and Corporate Social Responsibility. As an environmental lawyer, most opportunities are in the corporate area of advising large organisations and businesses as to their risks, responsibilities, regulatory concerns, damage limitation and defending them if litigation ensues. Beyond the corporate world, a very limited (but popular) number of opportunities exist in the area of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as The Friends of the Earth. Alternatively, there are further opportunities in both Government (for example, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs known as DEFRA), the regulatory bodies such as the Environment Agency and in Local Government. Clients can vary from large corporate entities to individuals, charities to government, and the areas of law involved can be just as varied. With many directives issuing from Brussels, EU law has a huge impact on this area.
The work of a human rights lawyer can be incredibly varied, as it revolves around the broad ranging rights set out in the Act. For example, rights such as ‘the right to life’, ‘to liberty’, ‘privacy’, ‘freedom of thought, conscience as religion,’ ‘freedom of expression,’ ‘peaceful enjoyment of your property’ and ‘right to an education’. Some of these rights (e.g. not to be tortured) can’t be limited by the courts: other rights have limitations, to guard against unfairly damaging another individual’s rights. For example, the right to privacy and the right to freedom of expression are not always compatible. The work of human rights lawyers therefore covers a wide range of law, from human rights and civil liberties to European law, public law, data protection and privacy, immigration, civil and criminal to name a few. The work can be very high profile, with individuals taking on those in positions of authority (e.g. through actions against the police or miscarriages of justice); or the government and other bodies (taking cases to judicial review).
Contentious work encompasses disciplinary and grievance matters within individual employment relationships, remuneration, employer negligence and culpability, and employee liability - resulting in Employment Tribunal claims (occasionally also High Court and county court claims) or negotiating a settlement. Non-contentious work can comprise of advising employers on employment aspects of company sales, drafting employment contracts and policies, and providing guidance on restructuring and redundancy programmes. Employment law is therefore about far more than just dealing with employment contracts - employment lawyers will often be called upon to give general advice relating to any matter that falls under the umbrella of employment. Employment lawyers have the opportunity to work with a diverse range of clients as virtually all organisations employ people, and the complexity of the legal matters dealt with is by no means always related to the size of the employer. Employment law is therefore varied and intellectually stimulating, with the possibility to become involved in high publicity cases. Due to the potential variety of cases, coupled with a typically steady flow of work and a work/life balance that is viewed as good, employment law is one of the more popular areas of law to practice, thus competition is stiff.
Family lawyers act on matters such as divorce and separation, child contact and adoption, Local Authority care orders and financial settlements. When acting for a client seeking a divorce, family lawyers are engaged in taking initial details, gathering evidence including financial evidence, preparing the necessary documentation, negotiating settlements and contact or residency for children, referring to mediation and advocating for the client in hearings. The work may also include instructing Counsel and attending Counsel at court. Child law lawyers may also represent parties in care proceedings, for example, acting on behalf of parents or children or Local Authorities. A family law solicitor will work with discretion and sympathy to ensure the best outcome for the well-being of your children. Whether that involves applying for a joint residence order, a contact order, or a prohibited steps order, your solicitor will talk you through your options and help you to make the right decision.
Lawyers tend to specialise in either contentious or non-contentious IP. Non-contentious work involves checking and registering client’s rights through, for example, patents and trademarks, as well as drafting commercial agreements to issue licences that allow others to use those rights. Contentious work is required when a client’s rights have been infringed or abused in any way, for example, when counterfeit products are being sold or music is used illegally. Clients can range from unknown individuals with a brilliant idea to patent, through to pharmaceutical giants and famous artists. IP lawyers need to build a rapport with a wide range of different people, and be able to think commercially and from a client’s point of view. Lawyers in this practice area need to understand the complex and technical language – many IP lawyers have previous relevant experience in other fields like science, technology and medicine. Attention to detail is vital as is the ability to manage huge volumes of paperwork alongside some tight deadlines. IP work is likely to involve commercial law and litigation so it’s a good idea to look at the skills required for those areas too.