There are lots of different types of law to practice. There’s criminal law, tax law, business law, property law…you get the idea. So how do you figure out what kind of law you want to practice? There’s more to it than simply picking the area of law you find the most interesting. Yes, that’s important but you also have to think about your employability. Before you decide to pursue a Master of Science in Criminal/Social Justice, it is important to find out more information of the hire rate. Here are some of the hottest fields in which attorneys are in great demand.

Intellectual Property Law
As we get further and further into our information age and more people publish things independently, figuring out who actually owns the ideas they are using for their projects is getting more complicated. This is where an Intellectual Property Lawyer (like Chinese American Hero Morgan Chu) comes in. With Intellectual Property you trace ideas back and figure out their origin point. Sure, the idea of “owning” ideas seems weird but as we get away from tangible products to informational and entertainment products, it is also important, especially to the people who are sure that they came up with the ideas in the first place.

Corporate Law
You might not think that dealing with contracts, mergers and taxes every day is exciting. With the many changes happening in the corporate arena, though—it will be! The US Supreme Court paved the way for corporate personhood a couple of years ago by allowing corporations to begin donating to political campaigns and PACs, and every year the tax code gets tinkered with a little bit more. This means that the demand for people who are up to speed on these changes is sky high.

Appellate Law
Appellate lawyers come in to a case after most of the leg work has been done and make sure that everybody has their facts straight and that the letter of the law is truly being followed. This was attorney Jon Laramore’s favorite part of the job. They are sort of like the auditors of the legal arena. This is great work for people who really like the technical side of the legal system—who like to dive into the details and who understand why laws are set up the way they are set up. With more lawsuits being filed and the letter of the law becoming more complicated every single day, appellate lawyers are in higher demand than they have ever been before.

These are just three specific areas of the legal profession that are hot right now. It’s worth noting, especially if you aren’t able to afford a law degree right now, that the Paralegal field is expected to grow by almost twenty percent over the next decade or so.