The Official Guide to Legal Specialties: An Insider's Guide to Every Major Practice Area

As a law school career counselor, I can attest that one of the top challenges students face is determining what they want to do with their law degree and how to get what they want. This book goes a long way in helping to solve that riddle. I recommend it to every law student with whom I work. Each one who has followed my advice has praised the recomendation. My Admissions Office will not give me my personal copy back because they find it so useful. This book lays out many of the typical and not-so-typical practice areas lawyers may enter, explaining what to expect, how to prepare for these jobs, and what employers are looking for. Law students will still need to do some self-analysis on what they are looking for, but this book will help immensely in sorting out areas that may work for them. It is especially helpful in that it may point them to areas they may not have thought of. I have seen many students gravitate towards areas because they are easy to understand or grasp onto. This book helps them open their eyes to many other areas.

I work in the career services field and have found this book very helpful in counselling law students. Most law students come into law school with a vague notion of what they want to do, but no sense of what it really means to practice a particular kind of law. Ms. Abrams book gives them a real-world account of what lawyers in each specialty do all day and what they can expect out of their careers. I'd highly recommend this to anyone considering a legal career or anyone helping those who are.

For anyone who needs an edge over competition during recruiting season, here is your ticket. Abrams' books is well-organized, comprehensive and illuminating. If you read it, you will learn the most basic lingo of the various legal practice areas. You will also be able to identify the specialities that suit your personality (for instance litigation and corporate are very different). You'll enter the interview process more self-aware and be aware of what's out there; as a result you'll be able to effectively market yourself to particular firms. If you don't read the Official Guide and don't know anything about the different practices of law yet, how do you know you are not making a mistake pursuing the practice of law? Read it, then apply for those jobs.

As a lawyer and legal recruiter I know how important it is for attorneys to find the right practice area. This book provides the most comprehensive and current information available today about what it's like to practice law and how practice areas differ. Not only does the book provide factual information about the different specialties, it also provides firsthand accounts of the daily lives of practitioners. I strongly recommend this book to current law students, anyone contemplating a career in law and any lawyer considering a practice area change.

In her new book, "The Official Guide to Legal Specialties," Lisa Abrams does a great job of breaking down more than 30 areas of law (from Tax Law to Legislative Practice to Entertainment Law). This is an invaluable tool when you enter into those 2L job interviews. This book has everything from a detailed explanation of each area to what law classes to take to bolster your background. Not only will it keep you from embarrasing yourself in an interview with claims like, "I've just always wanted to do litigation" and then not knowing a single answer to the follow-up questions, but it could save you from wasting your time in a area of law that you are ill-suited for. Well worth the price.