Types of Lawyers: A Field Guide to Legal Specialties and Choosing the Right One

65 questions on types of lawyers, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are lawyers trained as specialists?
• Are legal fees negotiable?
• Are there fee arrangements lawyers are forbidden to use?
• Can a lawyer advertise as a "specialist"?
• Can a lawyer take a case outside their usual practice area?
• Does a lawyer need to be licensed in your state?
• Does an ethics rule require a lawyer to be competent in your specific matter?
• Does attorney-client privilege extend to your accountant?
• How do contingency fees work?
• How do courts calculate a fee award when fees do shift?
• How does confidentiality differ from attorney-client privilege?
• How does hourly billing work and who bears the risk?
• How does the transactional-litigation split appear within IP practice?
• How do multiple IP protections apply to a single product?
• How do you assess whether a lawyer has the right kind of experience?
• How much of a lawyer's value comes from local knowledge?
• How should a client think about lawyer directories and ratings?
• Is there a limit on what a lawyer can charge?
• Should a client be worried by a lawyer who declines their matter?
• Should a lawyer guarantee an outcome?
• What alternative fee arrangements exist besides hourly and contingency?
• What are the four pillars of intellectual property law?
• What are the red flags when evaluating a lawyer?
• What are the two different meanings of "retainer"?
• What constitutional cases shaped lawyer advertising rules?
• What do bankruptcy lawyers do?
• What does a capped fee arrangement do for a client?
• What does it mean that a lawyer is "of counsel"?
• What does it mean that legal specialization is earned by repetition?
• What do personal injury lawyers do?
• What do tax lawyers do that accountants cannot?
• What ethical duties does a lawyer owe that other professionals do not?
• What happens to unused retainer funds if you end the representation?
• What is a client trust account and why does it matter?
• What is an engagement letter and what should it contain?
• What is a paralegal and how does using one affect your bill?
• What is bankruptcy's distinctive conflicts standard?
• What is the automatic stay in bankruptcy?
• What is the difference between a lawyer, an attorney, and counsel?
• What is the difference between attorney's fees and costs?
• What is the difference between transactional lawyers and litigators?
• What is the most useful single reframing for someone looking to hire a lawyer?
• What is the practical difference between a certified specialist and a generalist?
• What is the single most common hiring mistake when choosing a lawyer?
• What is the value of asking a lawyer about staffing?
• What questions should you ask at an initial lawyer consultation?
• What separates the transactional and litigation billing models?
• What should you ask a lawyer instead of whether they handle business law?
• What should you do when a legal problem spans two practice areas?
• What should you verify before paying a lawyer anything?
• When is a flat fee appropriate?
• Where should you look for candidate lawyers?
• Why are patent lawyers a distinct breed?
• Why can a case be too expensive to pursue even on contingency?
• Why do contingency fees exist?
• Why does a lawyer run a conflict check before taking your matter?
• Why does a lawyer's license actually matter to a client?
• Why does communication matter more than clients expect when choosing a lawyer?
• Why does local knowledge matter so much in a personal injury case?
• Why does patent litigation sit exclusively in federal court?
• Why is a contingency fee agreement required to be in writing?
• Why is a demand letter often the most cost-effective first step?
• Why might a flat trademark filing fee not cover the whole process?
• Why should you get three lawyer names rather than one?
• Will the losing party pay my attorney's fees?