MICHIGAN ATTORNEY

Most American attorneys are specialized in one field or another. Often dichotomies are drawn between different types of attorneys, but these are neither fixed nor formal lines. Examples include:

* Litigators (who sue and defend in court) v. transactional attorneys (who draft and advise clients, and rarely go to court)
* Attorneys in private practice and small firms (who can't afford to litigate every little issue) v. big firms (who can)
* Plaintiffs' attorneys (individual attorneys and small firms who represent individuals on contingent fee agreements) v. defendants' attorneys (big firms billing large corporations by the hour)
* Trial attorneys (who argue the facts, such as Johnnie Cochran) v. appellate attorneys (who argue the law, such as David Boies)
* Outside counsel (law firms) v. in-house counsel (corporate legal department)

Despite these descriptions, bar associations typically discourage claims for specialty in particular areas of law. Some legal specialty professional organizations issue certificates indicating that the holder has met some extra qualification in a particular field. However, there are only two legal specialties that are legally recognized. These are in patent law and admiralty law. Specialization in patent law is administered by the Office of Enrollment and Discipline of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), which imposes stringent requirements for applicants to become registered as patent attorneys or patent agents.

About half of American attorneys work solo or in small firms. See law firm. There are also many midsize firms, with anywhere from 50 to 200 attorneys, and since the 1970s, some law firms have merged to form giant "megafirms" with 1,000 attorneys or more.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Attorney at law".

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