Types of Law Firms

The term “law firm or firms” covers a range of law services that covers many types of clients. This can include small businesses, individuals, and large corporations. Law firms vary in size from large firms with one hundred or more attorneys and support staff to solo practices with one attorney and a small support staff. A law firm can be one that handles a variety of practice areas or specialize in one legal area. Most law firms will work with clients that live in their geographical area. Some large law firms may have several offices around the state. If it is a national law firm, they may have offices across the country.

Solo law firm

This law firm has one lawyer who works alone or with a legal assistant, who may also double as the receptionist. In a solo law firm the attorney may handle one type of law or several, including business law, wills and probates, and real estate. The attorney will work with small businesses and individuals. Some specialize in family law cases, including divorce and child custody cases.

Large law firms

This type of law firm is sometimes referred to as a corporate law firm. They generally work with corporations and medium and large firms. There are several legal departments within this firm and have groups of attorneys that specialize in a specific branch of the law. This can include real estate law, employment law, tax laws, litigation, and personal law. They help the large corporations with many different transactions including mergers and acquisitions. The ownership of these law firms are shared by attorneys referred to as partners. The other attorneys are called associates. Support staff who work in a large law firm include paralegals, clericals, and bookkeepers.

Services offered by law firms

• Litigation—this service involves lawsuits and with various court cases. These can include personal injury, and disputes over insurance, money, or property. The lawyers trained to represent their clients at trials and court hearings.
• Criminal—the lawyers in this firm defend clients that have criminal charges against them. When they work for a private criminal law firms they represent clients who can afford their services. If the client cannot afford to hire a criminal attorney one who does pro bono work or a public defender represents them.• Transactional law firm—they offer legal services that involve transactions and documents like preparing wills and trusts, preparing contracts for a business, or real estate closings.
• International law firm—they have offices in other countries but also in the United States. When utilizing the services of an international law firm the attorneys will help businesses in the United State comply with the laws of the countries they are doing business