1 answer
Collin
Student
Glen Burnie, Maryland
1
Question
Updated
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How much time a week does being a criminal lawyer take up? Is it difficult to balance work and life?
Will I be off work around 5 and be able to see my kids during the week?
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1 answer
Matthew L. Tuck, J.D., M.B.A.
CEO/Managing Attorney, Greater Detroit Area
73
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Lansing, Michigan
Updated
Matthew L.’s Answer
Hi Collin.
Great question. So I have been a practicing attorney for about 32 years. I have done criminal prosecution, criminal defense work, and criminal appellate work (appeals of criminal cases after the trial court rules). And based on my experience, the amount of time criminal lawyers spend working varies greatly. But it is very possible to find a job that gives you the work-life balance you want. The key is being intentional about it and creating a plan for your career that allows this.
Let's look at criminal defense lawyers first. These are attorneys who represent people who have been arrested and charged by the U.S. government, state, county or city with a crime. When a person gets charged or arrested (or maybe just finds out they are under investigation), they seek out a criminal defense attorney. I know criminal attorneys who own their own criminal defense firms and, like most people who own their own firms, work a lot. This is partly due to the fact that owning a small law firm is a lot like having two jobs: you practice law representing clients during the day. But then you also have to manage he business. Even if you have a super small firm with just a legal assistant and you, as owner you will still have lots of things to deal with every day that lawyers at larger firms or those who work for corporations or government don't have to deal with. For example, if you have an office you have to deal with rent and probably utilities, internet, maybe parking, insurance and other issues. You also have other issues to manage, like accounting, taxes, payroll for you and your employee, court fees, bar dues for your license, continuing legal education, and so on. If you have a website you need to worry about that, plus advertising, on-line reviews, banking, software, client referrals, client payments, debt collection (some clients won't pay), computers, a copier, subscriptions, accountants, printers, toner, scanners, watering the plants, and so on. And some one or some thing is always breaking, crashing, not showing up, or malfunctioning. One nice part of it is you can probably do some work from home since you are the boss, but there is no one to help you with all the little things.
That said, you can set your own hourly rates to some extent and set your own hours. If you want to spend more time with your family and kids, you can make that a priority but you likely will earn less money. Because to earn money as a lawyer, you have to be doing work for clients. This means getting potential clients in the door, signing them up, and then representing them, which can involve a lot of court hearings. As a criminal lawyer, you will usually have to attend pretrials, evidentiary hearings, trials, probation hearings, sentencings, and motion hearings. That takes a lot of time. And in most areas, there are a lot of criminal lawyers so the rates you can charge are somewhat dictated by the competition. If the going rate for a felony charge (say, felonious driving) is $10,000 in your area, you probably cannot get away with charging $20,000 because your potential clients know they can go across the street and pay that guy $10,000. Now, if you have some special experience or you have been doing it a long time or have a great reputation, you can charge a premium, but it takes a long time to get to that level.
There are also criminal defense attorneys who work at larger firms. You can get a job working for the guy who owns the firm described above. They often pay well but you likely will be expected to work hard. The general rule of thumb is that each associate (non-owner) attorney working in a firm has to earn at least three times what they are being paid to cover their overhead. In other words, if you are being paid $50,000 per year working as an associate, you must bring into the firm at least $150,000 to cover overhead like legal assistants, bookkeepers, rent, insurance, healthcare, etc., plus some more as profit that goes to the owner. So for example if your firm specializes in shoplifting cases and your managing partner can charge $3,000 per case he gets in, you must yourself handle at least 50 cases to bring in that $150,000. If you are earning double your salary. If you can work more cases and bring in more than the $150,000 that means you are very profitable for the firm, which is good because they will want to keep you on and pay you more since there is more profit after overhead and salaries to share with you. Always try to be a profitable attorney for your firm. You may have to work more hours to bring in that $150,000+, but this is how law firms work. They will fire unprofitable associates and keep the ones that make them a profit. If you work hard for several years you may be invited to become a partner in the firm, which means you become an owner and (probably) make more money. The downside is you are also expected to bring in business to support the firm, which can be hard if you are not good at networking.
This is one reason why attorneys grow their firms by hiring additional attorneys and support staff. Your overhead goes up (more money for payroll and space and computers), but you can handle more cases. And as the boss, if you set up your firm right (to basically run itself without you having to constantly be involved telling people what to do and making decisions), you can create spare time with your family.
There are also other types of criminal attorneys. Many attorneys specializing in criminal law work for the government side of the process. That is, they prosecute people who have committed crimes. They are called different names but the idea is the same. Most counties in the U.S. have a county prosecutor. They may be called "Prosecutor" or DA (District Attorney) or something like that. County prosecutors and their staffs usually handle most of the crimes from traffic infractions to misdemeanors (usually defined a more minor crime as punishable by less than 1 year in jail), and felonies (usually defined as more serious crimes punishable by more than 1 year jail). Basically anything that violates the state criminal code. Cities also have prosecutors called City Attorneys and they usually handle misdemeanors, traffic violations, violations of city ordinances, and code violations. Here again, anything that violates the city criminal ordinances. States also have prosecutors usually called an "Attorney General" or something similar. And the U.S. government's prosecutors are called U.S. Attorneys. They generally prosecute criminal violations of United States law. The vast majority of criminal prosecutions occur as a result of violations of state law rather than federal or city law.
Each city, county and state has a head prosecutor and he or she hires Assistant Prosecutors to handle the day to day prosecution duties (warrants, hearings, trials, motions, sentencings, etc.). These offices all require a lot of attorneys to do the work in the trenches. These are also criminal law attorneys. In my experience, assistant city and county prosecutors work shorter hours than attorneys in private practice because they have more help and there are more of them, though not always. Prosecutor's offices don't pay top dollar (it is the government, after all), but it pays a livable wage and you can create more of a work-life balance.
A third type of criminal attorney is what is generally called a "public defender." These attorneys usually work for a government agency called the Defender's Office, Legal Aid, or something similar. Because there is a right to legal representation and many people charged with crimes cannot afford it, the government hires attorneys to represent indigent defendants at little or no cost. In my experience, public defender offices are underfunded and the attorneys are overworked and underpaid. But you will get a lot of experience working there quickly. Lots of exposure to many types of crimes and the opportunity to try a lot of cases if you chose to. The pay is poor, support staff is thin, and hours usually long. Most people do this work because they believe in what they do, not because they want to get rich.
Many public defenders and prosecutors go on to start their own defense firms because they have great experience in the criminal system and lots of contacts in the courts.
So in conclusion, it is possible to find a job as a criminal lawyer that allows you to create a meaningful work-life balance. In most cases you don't know what kind of work-life balance a job offers until you have actually worked it. Whatever path you take, criminal law can be very interesting. It can involve science, forensic accounting, DNA, surveillance, accident reconstruction, creative lawyering, and a ton of other things. There are many specialties you can get into which keeps it interesting.
Take the opportunity while you are in law school (and even before during college) to work at a criminal law firm, prosecutor's office, a court, and public defender's office. Do this even as an unpaid intern, if you have to. It's the best way to see what the work is like.
Above all, make a plan for your career before you get out of college or law school. Figure out what you want your life to look like after you get out of school and design your job to fit that vision. Write the plan down, look at it and update it regularly. Find a mentor who seems to have the life you think you want and ask him or her how they did it.
Good luck!
See what kind of law you like by starting to read as much as you can.
During college and law school try to get jobs or internships at a criminal defense firm, a prosecutor's office, a court, and a public defender's office. This will give you first-hand knowledge of what these attorneys do, and how many hours they spend doing it.
Ask attorneys who do this kind of law about their work-life balance. They will probably be glad to tell you what they have learned.
Most law schools have a class or program that allows law students to work with indigent defendants representing them in court (sometimes called an Urban Law Clinic). This is great experience.
Make a written plan for your career and stick to it. Look at it often and update it as your knowledge changes.
Great question. So I have been a practicing attorney for about 32 years. I have done criminal prosecution, criminal defense work, and criminal appellate work (appeals of criminal cases after the trial court rules). And based on my experience, the amount of time criminal lawyers spend working varies greatly. But it is very possible to find a job that gives you the work-life balance you want. The key is being intentional about it and creating a plan for your career that allows this.
Let's look at criminal defense lawyers first. These are attorneys who represent people who have been arrested and charged by the U.S. government, state, county or city with a crime. When a person gets charged or arrested (or maybe just finds out they are under investigation), they seek out a criminal defense attorney. I know criminal attorneys who own their own criminal defense firms and, like most people who own their own firms, work a lot. This is partly due to the fact that owning a small law firm is a lot like having two jobs: you practice law representing clients during the day. But then you also have to manage he business. Even if you have a super small firm with just a legal assistant and you, as owner you will still have lots of things to deal with every day that lawyers at larger firms or those who work for corporations or government don't have to deal with. For example, if you have an office you have to deal with rent and probably utilities, internet, maybe parking, insurance and other issues. You also have other issues to manage, like accounting, taxes, payroll for you and your employee, court fees, bar dues for your license, continuing legal education, and so on. If you have a website you need to worry about that, plus advertising, on-line reviews, banking, software, client referrals, client payments, debt collection (some clients won't pay), computers, a copier, subscriptions, accountants, printers, toner, scanners, watering the plants, and so on. And some one or some thing is always breaking, crashing, not showing up, or malfunctioning. One nice part of it is you can probably do some work from home since you are the boss, but there is no one to help you with all the little things.
That said, you can set your own hourly rates to some extent and set your own hours. If you want to spend more time with your family and kids, you can make that a priority but you likely will earn less money. Because to earn money as a lawyer, you have to be doing work for clients. This means getting potential clients in the door, signing them up, and then representing them, which can involve a lot of court hearings. As a criminal lawyer, you will usually have to attend pretrials, evidentiary hearings, trials, probation hearings, sentencings, and motion hearings. That takes a lot of time. And in most areas, there are a lot of criminal lawyers so the rates you can charge are somewhat dictated by the competition. If the going rate for a felony charge (say, felonious driving) is $10,000 in your area, you probably cannot get away with charging $20,000 because your potential clients know they can go across the street and pay that guy $10,000. Now, if you have some special experience or you have been doing it a long time or have a great reputation, you can charge a premium, but it takes a long time to get to that level.
There are also criminal defense attorneys who work at larger firms. You can get a job working for the guy who owns the firm described above. They often pay well but you likely will be expected to work hard. The general rule of thumb is that each associate (non-owner) attorney working in a firm has to earn at least three times what they are being paid to cover their overhead. In other words, if you are being paid $50,000 per year working as an associate, you must bring into the firm at least $150,000 to cover overhead like legal assistants, bookkeepers, rent, insurance, healthcare, etc., plus some more as profit that goes to the owner. So for example if your firm specializes in shoplifting cases and your managing partner can charge $3,000 per case he gets in, you must yourself handle at least 50 cases to bring in that $150,000. If you are earning double your salary. If you can work more cases and bring in more than the $150,000 that means you are very profitable for the firm, which is good because they will want to keep you on and pay you more since there is more profit after overhead and salaries to share with you. Always try to be a profitable attorney for your firm. You may have to work more hours to bring in that $150,000+, but this is how law firms work. They will fire unprofitable associates and keep the ones that make them a profit. If you work hard for several years you may be invited to become a partner in the firm, which means you become an owner and (probably) make more money. The downside is you are also expected to bring in business to support the firm, which can be hard if you are not good at networking.
This is one reason why attorneys grow their firms by hiring additional attorneys and support staff. Your overhead goes up (more money for payroll and space and computers), but you can handle more cases. And as the boss, if you set up your firm right (to basically run itself without you having to constantly be involved telling people what to do and making decisions), you can create spare time with your family.
There are also other types of criminal attorneys. Many attorneys specializing in criminal law work for the government side of the process. That is, they prosecute people who have committed crimes. They are called different names but the idea is the same. Most counties in the U.S. have a county prosecutor. They may be called "Prosecutor" or DA (District Attorney) or something like that. County prosecutors and their staffs usually handle most of the crimes from traffic infractions to misdemeanors (usually defined a more minor crime as punishable by less than 1 year in jail), and felonies (usually defined as more serious crimes punishable by more than 1 year jail). Basically anything that violates the state criminal code. Cities also have prosecutors called City Attorneys and they usually handle misdemeanors, traffic violations, violations of city ordinances, and code violations. Here again, anything that violates the city criminal ordinances. States also have prosecutors usually called an "Attorney General" or something similar. And the U.S. government's prosecutors are called U.S. Attorneys. They generally prosecute criminal violations of United States law. The vast majority of criminal prosecutions occur as a result of violations of state law rather than federal or city law.
Each city, county and state has a head prosecutor and he or she hires Assistant Prosecutors to handle the day to day prosecution duties (warrants, hearings, trials, motions, sentencings, etc.). These offices all require a lot of attorneys to do the work in the trenches. These are also criminal law attorneys. In my experience, assistant city and county prosecutors work shorter hours than attorneys in private practice because they have more help and there are more of them, though not always. Prosecutor's offices don't pay top dollar (it is the government, after all), but it pays a livable wage and you can create more of a work-life balance.
A third type of criminal attorney is what is generally called a "public defender." These attorneys usually work for a government agency called the Defender's Office, Legal Aid, or something similar. Because there is a right to legal representation and many people charged with crimes cannot afford it, the government hires attorneys to represent indigent defendants at little or no cost. In my experience, public defender offices are underfunded and the attorneys are overworked and underpaid. But you will get a lot of experience working there quickly. Lots of exposure to many types of crimes and the opportunity to try a lot of cases if you chose to. The pay is poor, support staff is thin, and hours usually long. Most people do this work because they believe in what they do, not because they want to get rich.
Many public defenders and prosecutors go on to start their own defense firms because they have great experience in the criminal system and lots of contacts in the courts.
So in conclusion, it is possible to find a job as a criminal lawyer that allows you to create a meaningful work-life balance. In most cases you don't know what kind of work-life balance a job offers until you have actually worked it. Whatever path you take, criminal law can be very interesting. It can involve science, forensic accounting, DNA, surveillance, accident reconstruction, creative lawyering, and a ton of other things. There are many specialties you can get into which keeps it interesting.
Take the opportunity while you are in law school (and even before during college) to work at a criminal law firm, prosecutor's office, a court, and public defender's office. Do this even as an unpaid intern, if you have to. It's the best way to see what the work is like.
Above all, make a plan for your career before you get out of college or law school. Figure out what you want your life to look like after you get out of school and design your job to fit that vision. Write the plan down, look at it and update it regularly. Find a mentor who seems to have the life you think you want and ask him or her how they did it.
Good luck!
Matthew L. recommends the following next steps: