The National Jurist recently published an article detailing the “super-hot”, “hot” and “somewhat hot” legal fields with respect to job opportunities. We will continue to look at this list; we covered “super-hot” last week, so today we will examine the remaining categories.
“Hot”:
Food & Drug
Recent increases in FDA applications, the January 2011 enactment of The Food Safety and Modernization Act and increased allegations of drug-counterfeiting make this a hot field.
Tax
According to article author Richard Hermann, the US government and IRS is becoming increasingly strict about tax enforcement. As a result, taxpayers will be in greater need of attorneys who can negotiate the system.
Privacy
Online privacy issues on Facebook, Google and other public media abound. An interesting prominent sub topic? Whether advertisers’ use of publicly-posted photos violates copyright law.
Compliance
Lawyers will be needed in greater numbers as agencies, companies and businesses try to keep up with and face penalties for violating ever-changing state and federal laws.
“Somewhat Hot”:
Employment
Job growth, while slow, is occurring and issues concerning benefits, discrimination, job safety and more are ever-present. Attorneys are needed on both the employee and management sides of the fence.
Energy
The quest for alternate sources of energy, the debate around oil-drilling, and the constant concern regarding gas production all necessitate attorney involvement. In a rare geographic caveat, the states of Texas, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania are specifically called out in the article for needing energy practitioners.
Manufacturing
Experts predict that manufacturing in the US will have a major resurgence in the next few years, which will then necessitate representation in areas concerning wages, trade and energy.
Immigration
Finally, given the more than 300,000 immigrants who face deportation annually, immigration attorneys are always in demand. Many legal immigrants often need representation to ensure their status. Those issues, compounded by conversations of immigration reform make this field a good bet.
