It is quite common to find criminal lawyers working most of their time in offices, courtrooms and law libraries. If necessary, they also meet their clients at business, homes, hospitals or even prisons. Sometimes criminal lawyers may also do some traveling to attend meetings, appear in court, gather important evidence and approach legislative bodies and other authorities.
There are basically two types of criminal lawyers; salaried and private practice. The salaried lawyers follow a fixed work schedule while the private lawyer works irregular hours to complete research, conferences with clients and to prepare important briefs during off working hours. Criminal lawyers are generally hard workers who work long hours. In fact, those lawyers who work full time most of the time end up working about fifty or more hours in a week. It is when their case is being tried that they end up facing tremendous pressure. Preparations for court cases not only involve learning more about the client and the case, but also on being kept abreast of the latest laws and judicial laws.
Legal work is a field that is not seasonal. Private criminal lawyers have the capacity of determining their workload and thus wisely decide on when to retire. Many lawyers thus work well beyond the retirement age. Criminal Lawyers can be found to be working mostly at the local level in the government. The salaried criminal lawyers that are found working on the outside of the government generally work as house counsel by public utilities, real estate companies, manufacturing firms, insurance companies and any other business firm or non-profit association. There are criminal lawyers who work as part-time independent lawyers and then there are the lawyers who work part time as lawyers while having a full time job. It is expected that employment of criminal lawyers will grow fast through 2014 because of the growth in population and general business activities.
There is a keen competition for jobs in the legal field to cater to the increased number of law graduates every year. It is the graduate that has excellent academic records from the accredited law schools that will be offered the best jobs. It is because of this rush for attorney positions that you nowadays find many lawyers turning to working in nontraditional areas of legal work like the administrative, business and managerial positions in banks, insurance firms, government agencies and any other organization. In fact, it is predicted that these areas will be a continuous source for legal employment.
It is very important for the criminal lawyer to be willing to relocate to get a good job in this competitive world. This proves to be beneficial to the lawyer; however, it may be required to take an additional bar State bar examination to practice in a different state. Nowadays, employers are usually on the lookout for graduates with not only a law degree, but with an advanced law degree with specialty in any field like tax, patent and admiralty law.
Criminal lawyers grow concentrated in salaried jobs with businesses and the government employing more and more staff attorneys for employment in their establishment when the industry grows. The independent lawyer will find it easier to establish their practice in small towns and in the expanding suburban areas. This is because there is less competition from larger and established law firms here. Moreover, new lawyers face a better chance of getting known to potential clients in a small town than in the city!