In terms of a career, is business or criminal law better?

[stephen161824]

I know criminal law is highly competitive, does the same go for business/corporate law? How easy is it to advance in both comperatively?
I'm asking because soon I'll have to choose between doing criminal or contract law in my law course.

[futureseal]

definitely criminal law because in business you have to start out very low ranked with pay in the 20's and in law your pay will be higher... especially if your being an attorney

[tom_c]

Business & corporate because its all paid for privately.Most criminal work is done on legal aid rates (q.v) PS The other way round if you can get a job as consiliere to the Corleones

[Spike]

Business Law is far more competitive than criminal law. Business law pays far more than crim law as well. You do realize if you want to go into law you'll have to go to law school and you will be required to take both Contracts and Criminal Procedure (which is more or less Crim Law), right?

Generally, contract law is very dry but it has some applicability in everyday life. Reading for Contracts gets pretty old sometimes.

Criminal law is usually pretty interesting and tends to read a little easier - the cases aren't so boring.

As far as advancement, they are wholly different fields with different entity structures. Plus, every firm is a little different. Overall though, there's really not a lot of advancement involved with criminal law. Generally, there are not large criminal law firms. Corporate firms, however, are usually the big ones. In those you usually have a partnership track which lasts anywhere from 3-6 years. If at the end of the partnership track the firm doesn't think you're of value, you are let go. If you do become a partner, which most people do, you then become a shareholder in the entity and are entitled to a share of the profits yearly.

Basically, I think the comparison between the two, in my eyes, boils down to do you want to make a lot of money and work like a dog (corporate law) or do something a little more interesting and exciting and not make a lot of money. Granted some criminal lawyers do quite well, but the proportion of those who do very well to those who do not is very low.

Sorry for the long winded answer, but I really am trying to avoid reading for Trusts & Estates at the moment.