Real Estate Lawyer Career Guide and Counseling

Question: What exactly does a real estate lawyer do? My husband and I are just purchasing a home in Edmonton Alberta. We're currently calling around for lawyers, and I'm just wondering what exactly a real estate lawyer does in the transaction?

Answer: raise the prices of home owners insurance. Lawyers and greed are the reason why we are in this mess

Question: Do i need a real estate lawyer before I close on my home purchase? I'm buying a home without a real estate agent. Need some advise on whether I need a real-estate lawyer to review my home contract. I don't think the mortgage lender will provide this for me, or will they? Advice needed.

Answer: The mortgage lender will not provide an attorney for you. If there is an attorney at the closing, be assured that unless you signed a retainer agreement hiring that attorney to represent you, that attorney is representing someone else. The answer to whether you need an attorney is "it depends." (Sorry, but true.) If you are questioning ANYTHING about the transaction, I would advise hiring an attorney for a flat fee (as opposed to an hourly rate) to review the paperwork prior to closing (if it's a basic buyer/seller transaction, reviewing the paperwork should not take more than a couple of hours, at most) and possibly accompany you to the closing. Again, if it is a simple transaction, the closing should not take longer than a half-hour or so. You can very likely get legal representation for that amount of time (two hours to review documents, plus accompanying you t the closing) for around $1000.00 or so. It seems like a lot of money, but considering what you're paying for your home, I think it would be a good investment.

Question: How to become a real estate lawyer? I'm a senior studying sociology and I will take a year off to apply for law school. Job descriptions always require at least 3-5 years experience in real estate transaction. How & where should I start to fulfil the requirement of Real Estate Lawyer job description?

Answer: don't even look at those job descriptions you're seeing. those are for lateral attorneys looking to move from firm to firm. it's a whole different ballgame when you're coming out of law school. assuming you're attending a decent law school, you'll have firms looking to recruit you. when you interview, express an interest in real estate law and hope that they'll put you in the real estate section should you get a summer clerkship/full time position. if your school doesn't have a big on-campus interviewing program, send out resumes to all firms in your desired market that have large real estate groups. express your interest in the cover letter. beyond that, however, if you want to go to law school you should not even be thinking about what type of attorney you wish to be. it is almost certainly bound to change once you enter law school and begin taking all the different types of classes. since law school is a general education, you'll be exposed to all different types of law. hope this helps! feel free to email if you have questions.

Question: Should I use a Lawyer or a Real Estate Agent? I am thinking about buying a property in a community this time next year. In my research, I have noticed that many people do not use agents. However, I feel that I should use a lawyer at least, before closing the deal. Recently, I have been overrun with requests from agents not to use a lawyer since they cost money (probably money that they want) and don't add value. I cannot believe this, since there is an industry that seems to specialize in it. I have also been told that real estate lawyers don't negotiate prices for the clients and will not help with the selection of the homes. I know that maybe the general case, but in the case of a community-based property, I am not sure. It seems stupid to use only the agent, since I will find the property on my own (and still have to pay them the 3% or more). What should I do? Should I use the real estate lawyer or the agent?

Answer: It it true that lawyers will help you negotiate prices for you or help you with the selection of the homes, but it's the out come of the property and contracts that count. You, as a consumer can negotiate and select the home yourself, only you know what you want. The Real Estate Lawyers will review the contract and go over it with you and if there are something that's not right, the will know it. The Real Estate Lawyer will fight for you in court if the sellers did not disclosed all pertinate information about the property, whereas the real estate agents won't review the contract or represent you in court. Go with the Real Estate Lawyer, it saves you money in the long run if there's any problem with the property, unless you're buying a newly built property, than go with the agent.

Question: Do Lawyers who deal with Real Estate make more money than a typical (corporate) lawyer? This seems like a less common field, so there isn't much I can find in terms of research that deals with the stress level of the job as compared to a corporate lawyer. Also, are Real Estate Lawyers put under less pressure to turn into ass holes?

Answer: That's like asking how high is up. There are real estate attorneys who specialize in single family home closings and those that do multimillion dollar deals. Those that do individual closings tend to be sole practitioners or in smaller firms that do other general practice types of business and many also have title companies which generate additional income. Those that do the big deals tend to be in larger multi-practice firms as the clients tend to do all of their legal work through a single entity. Stress is not caused by work, it is caused by the individual's inability to properly deal with pressure.

Question: Do I really need a real estate lawyer to close on a house in watertown NY? Why? Do I really need a real estate lawyer to close on a house in watertown NY? Why? Please help me.

Answer: If you are not using a realtor, you should.

Question: whats high school is needed to become a real estate lawyer? i know that you need 4 year degree, and then 3 years of college to become a real estate lawyer, but i need to know what high school experience is needed... i'm guessing that you obviously need all four years of high school, but what classes must we take..and is there any other information? classes: civics?

Answer: I would suggest the following: At least 4 classes in English, preferably 5. At least 5 Social Science classes (year long classes may be replaced by two semester long classes) At least 3 years of Science Classes At least 3 years of Math Classes Four years of a foreign language, Latin preferred. An introductory business course A Class on Microsoft Word.

Question: How does one become a real estate lawyer in Toronto, ON? How does one become a real estate lawyer in Toronto, ON. after completing high school. What would be the process be , what program should one enroll in at university or is there a particular university one has to attend, and how long does it take to become a r.e lawyer

Answer: UPDATE: Gosh Penny you're right! I totally misread the question!! To be any kind of lawyer, that's obviously law school, which means any undergraduate degree first, then apply to law school at university. It doesn't matter what your undergrad degree is, but you'll need 3 years of university (any university, any subject) before you can apply to law school. Since most people take 4 years to get a degree, most people decide to just do the extra 4th year and get an undergrad degree first, then go to law school, but some do go after 3 years. Sorry for misreading the question!! ************************************************** There's no university/college program == just a professional program. The first step is to study on your own for the entrance exam. The real estate board will provide you with the text book. Once you pass the exam, then you enroll in their courses. They do this to weed out who's serious about getting started. I've tutored people for this exam, and it's not really that difficult, but you do have to work through and memorize the industry specific material. Give me a few minutes, and I'll find you the link to the organization. :) ****** Added the link to the bottom. It's the "Ontario Real Estate Board" that does their own training/testing/certification. Good luck! :)

Question: Does anyone know a good real estate lawyer in Boston? I am new to Boston and need a good lawyer who specializes in real estate related litigation matters. Can anyone recommend a good one who is reasonably priced?

Answer: Hey I know the best real estate lawyers in that area and very affordable you can even talk on the phone umlimited and might just have to fax over papers without even going in. Just email me and I will give you better information orlandocarswell@yahoo.com

Question: How do you find a good real estate lawyer in Northern California? Let us hear your words of the mouth. What do you like/dislike about your real estate lawyers? I'm a buyer and don't have complex issues. I just need to fully understand every disclosure and every clause in the contract to ensure that I'm getting what I'm paying for. While you can easily compare doctors at HealthGrades.com, is there a Web site you compare lawyers easily? Although a real estate agent can do the job, it isn't probably worth paying 3% commission for it. It may make more sense to pay for a real estate lawyer by the hour.

Answer: California is not like the East Coast where a Lawyer needs to be paid for. If your REALTOR and that is the person you should choose cannot explain the documents in front of you than yeah find a new REALTOR. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and have done my nights of Legal Case Briefs. Took my Real Estate Law Class and passed. All California REALTORS actually have a 800 number in which we can call and talk to a Legal panel if a client has a question. We can also access a database in which we can read any legal information. If you are still set on a Lawyer over a REALTOR than I have a person who is Broker/Lawyer for a Real Estate Agency. Remember you are looking for a Buyer's Agent so the percentage coming from the Seller is cheaper on you than paying a Lawyer by the hour. So find a REALTOR that is a Lawyer or a REALTOR that can explain real estate terminology correctly. End result dont waste your money. Get a Home Inspection of the property. Ask for a Natural Hazard Disclosure of the Property as well. These two documents should be available to you within the first 10 days and will give you ample time to decide whether you want the property or not. Any more questions ask it FREE and I know some people like that word. I will charge you if it makes you feel better $))

Question: Can anybody suggest an experienced toronto real estate lawyer? Can anybody suggest a toronto real estate lawyer to sell toronto residential real estate?

Answer: Julie Berridge concentrates her practice on real estate, mortgages and refinancing: http://www.berridgelawfirm.com

Question: Do I really need a real estate lawyer to close on a house in Florida? Why? I am closing on a home and reviewed the contract, the title company has confirmed the title.... Why then is it important to get a real estate lawyer......when it's not required. I'm on the fence here....not sure what to do.

Answer: In Florida, you really do not need an attorney. Most of the contracts are form contracts that are filled out by realtors then the closing is handled by the title company. Use the FARBAR contract... it's very straight forward. Additionally, just keep your eyes open for any addendums or additions. With title companies handling the closings, there really isn't as much of a need for real estate attorneys. Real estate attorneys would be able to handle more sophisticated real estate issues and negotiations. For the most part, sales are very basic. I believe that the real estate market is better off in general without requiring attorneys for a real estate transaction. I did my fair share of sales in NYC(in which attorneys are required to create contracts and close sales), and for the most part on complicated transactions real estate attorneys are good to have. When the attorney involved was just an 'attorney' they usually created awful messes. Some of which cost my clients hundreds of thousands of dollars because of their incompetence with real estate law. Transactions here in FL overall are smoother without need for attorneys. And since you are permitted by law to have direct contact with the title company and other participants in the transaction 99% of the attorney's job you can do yourself. Basically, making sure that everyone else is doing their thing. The last 1% that a real estate attorney might be helpful with is for document reveiw. If you are unable to 'cough' read or unable to sign the documents yourself... then they can be useful for FL transactions. Again, I say this because the paperwork is standardized in a very high percentage of the transactions. If you saw something that was really out of place... then I'd seek their advice.

Question: How do you become a lawyer? Let's say, a Real Estate Lawyer.? Obviously it takes a lot of time, testing, and devotion. But how does one go about becoming a Real Estate Lawyer. Or any type of lawyer at that. 10 Points Best Answer

Answer: Here is the real deal. Law Sucks. I am an attorney. However, I went to a top 15 school and had mediocre grades. I found the job market to be depressing. So much time, planning, and money went into undergraduate school, I had a 4.0 GPA, and scored above the 95th percentile on the LSAT. I naively thought going to a top school their would be plenty of lucrative and exciting jobs waiting for me and I would be set to have a good quality of life. I remember sending out 300 letters one time and getting no positive response, either they said some nonsense about you are great, you have good accomplishments, but at this time we cannot offer you a position, we will keep your resume on file. I took the Bar Exam in two states wasting time studying and not earning any money. I had to move back in with my parents, fun. Meanwhile many of my friends and people that I knew from High School and College were establishing themselves in their careers and making money, gettng promotions, etc. I worked post-law school as a car salesman and a mortgage broker. Finally a family friend had a friend who was a solo attorney, I worked for him basically for free, actually it was negative because I spent money on travel, long distance phone calls, etc., still living at home with mom and dad, saddled with law school debts, the student loan people started calling wanting $$$. Eventually I left that attorney. I struggled to find another attorney job. Eventually, I got a job in 2003 at firm paying the princely sum of $25,000 per year. I moved out of my parent's house but was still subsidized by them. Dad kept threatening to cut me off, but I lived in an expensive state the cheapest place to stay I found was $1,500 a month all inclusive. My paycheck was like $430.00 a week take home. Eventually, I did go solo, it was hard, but I did make some money in real estate closings for 3 1/2 years. Now the real estate market stinks and I have no income, and I am trying to plan my next move, which may be back to my parents temporarily. I have interviewed for some associate positions and the salary range was 38k-55k, this is pretty low for somone with 5 yrs experience and a doctorate degree. My wife works at a nail salon, as a manicurist, she took a three month course and makes 50K a year. It has been an exquisitely painful road for me. In my family I am the most educated and the least financially secure. My dad makes like $350,000K engineering+MBA degree, my younger sister makes $165,000K a year psyche degree and an MBA. My conclusion, LAW SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! Too many law schools fighting for tuition $$$, night programs, weekend programs, low academic standards, too many attorneys, lowering wages and limiting opportunities, compare to the AMA and ADA that insure a shortage of dentists and doctors. When I was solo it seemed like everyone was an attorney, or their cousin was an attorney, or their sister's friend was an attorney, or their brother was an attorney and so and so on, I lost a lot of business because of this. I do not think doctors and dentists face such client poaching. If you are in the top 5%, law review, and went to a good school, yes, you will probably get a good job right from the start. I would have been better off not going to College and instead picking up a trade like being an electrician. Heck, if I had all the money I wasted on education, worked at a gas station during all my non-earning years and put the money into a CD I could probably be able to retire. Looking back, if I had to do it again, if you want to through the hard work and invest the $$$ for education so it pays off you should go into healthcare. Heck their is a shortage of pharmacists and their median wage is $98,000K well above lawyers. Dentists 180,000K median and their is a shortage. Oh well this sucks but this is my life and I will deal with it, I spent my educational time and $$$, and the dye is cast. From US News, Poor careers for 2006 By Marty Nemko Posted 1/5/06 Attorney. If starting over, 75 percent of lawyers would choose to do something else. A similar percentage would advise their children not to become lawyers. The work is often contentious, and there's pressure to be unethical. And despite the drama portrayed on TV, real lawyers spend much of their time on painstakingly detailed research. In addition, those fat-salaried law jobs go to only the top few percent of an already high-powered lot. Many people go to law school hoping to do so-called public-interest law. (In fact, much work not officially labeled as such does serve the public interest.) What they don't teach in law school is that the competition for those jobs is intense. I know one graduate of a Top Three law school, for instance, who also edited a law journal. She applied for a low-paying job at the National Abortion Rights Action League and, despite interviewing very well, didn't get the job. From the Associated Press, MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A lawmaker who persuaded the Assembly to eliminate all state funding for the University of Wisconsin law school says his reasoning is simple: There's too many lawyers in Wisconsin. From an ABA study about malpractice claims, More Sole Practicioners: There appears to be an increasing trend toward sole practicioners, due partly to a lack of jobs for new lawyers, but also due to increasing dissatisfaction among experienced lawyers with traditional firms; leading to some claims which could have been avoided with better mentoring. New Lawyers: Most insurers have noticed that many young lawyers cannot find jobs with established firms, and so are starting their own practices without supervision or mentoring. This is likely to cause an increase in malpractice claims, although the claims may be relatively small in size due to the limited nature of a new lawyers “In a survey conducted back in 1972 by the American Bar Association, seventy percent of Americans not only didn’t have a lawyer, they didn’t know how to find one. That’s right, thirty years ago the vast majority of people didn’t have a clue on how to find a lawyer. Now it’s almost impossible not to see lawyers everywhere you turn. From a recent Wall Street Journal Article, Hard Case: Job Market Wanes for U.S. Lawyers Growth of Legal Sector Lags Broader Economy; Law Schools Proliferate By AMIR EFRATI September 24, 2007; Page A1 A law degree isn't necessarily a license to print money these days. For graduates of elite law schools, prospects have never been better. Big law firms this year boosted their starting salaries to as high as $160,000. But the majority of law-school graduates are suffering from a supply-and-demand imbalance that's suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don't score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law-school debts that can exceed $100,000. Some are taking temporary contract work, reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour, without benefits. And many are blaming their law schools for failing to warn them about the dark side of the job market. The law degree that Scott Bullock gained in 2005 from Seton Hall University -- where he says he ranked in the top third of his class -- is a "waste," he says. Some former high-school friends are earning considerably more as plumbers and electricians than the $50,000-a-year Mr. Bullock is making as a personal-injury attorney in Manhattan. To boot, he is paying off $118,000 in law-school debt. "Unfortunately, some find the practice of law is not for them," Seton Hall's associate dean, Kathleen Boozang, said through a spokeswoman. "However, it is our experience that a legal education is a tremendous asset for a variety of professional paths." A slack in demand appears to be part of the problem. The legal sector, after more than tripling in inflation-adjusted growth between 1970 and 1987, has grown at an average annual inflation-adjusted rate of 1.2% since 1988, or less than half as fast as the broader economy, according to Commerce Department data. LAW BLOG Join a discussion on the state of the legal market.Some practice areas have declined in recent years: Personal-injury and medical-malpractice cases have been undercut by state laws limiting class-action suits, out-of-state plaintiffs and payouts on damages. Securities class-action litigation has declined in part because of a buoyant stock market. On the supply end, more lawyers are entering the work force, thanks in part to the accreditation of new law schools and an influx of applicants after the dot-com implosion earlier this decade. In the 2005-06 academic year, 43,883 Juris Doctor degrees were awarded, up from 37,909 for 2001-02, according to the American Bar Association. Universities are starting up more law schools in part for prestige but also because they are money makers. Costs are low compared with other graduate schools and classrooms can be large. Since 1995, the number of ABA-accredited schools increased by 11%, to 196. Evidence of a squeezed market among the majority of private lawyers in the U.S., who work as sole practitioners or at small firms, is growing. A survey of about 650 Chicago lawyers published in the 2005 book "Urban Lawyers" found that between 1975 and 1995 the inflation-adjusted average income of the top 25% of earners, generally big-firm lawyers, grew by 22% -- while income for the other 75% actually dropped. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the inflation-adjusted average income of sole practitioners has been flat since the mid-1980s. A recent survey showed that out of nearly 600 lawyers at firms of 10 lawyers or fewer in Indiana, wages for the majority only kept pace with inflation or dropped in real terms over the past five years. The news isn't any better for the 14% of new lawyers who go into government or join public-interest firms. Inflation-adjusted starting salaries for graduates who go to work for public-interest firms or the government rose 4% and 8.6%, respectively, between 1994 and 2006, according to the National Association for Law Placement, which aggregates graduate surveys from law schools. That compares with at least an 11% jump in the median family income during the same period, according to the Census Bureau. Graduates who become in-house company lawyers, about 9%, have fared better: Their salaries rose by nearly 14% during the same period. Many students "simply cannot earn enough income after graduation to support the debt they incur," wrote Richard Matasar, dean of New York Law School, in 2005, concluding that, "We may be reaching the end of a golden era for law schools." Meanwhile, the prospects for big-firm lawyers are growing richer. While offering robust minimum salaries, those firms are paying astronomical amounts to their stars. Now, debate is intensifying among law-school academics over the integrity of law schools' marketing campaigns. Defenders argue that the legal profession always has been openly and proudly a meritocracy: Top entrance-exam scores help win admittance to top schools where top students win jobs at top firms. Even the system that is used to issue law-school grades -- a curve that pits student against student -- reflects the law profession's competitiveness. David Burcham, dean of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, considered second-tier, says the school makes no guarantees to students that they will obtain jobs. He says it is problematic that big firms only interview the top of the class, "but that's the nature of the employment market; it's never been different." For the majority of students and alumni, he says, Loyola "turned out to be a good investment." Yet economic data suggest that prospects have grown bleaker for all but the top students, and now a number of law-school professors are calling for the distribution of more-accurate employment information. Incoming students are "mesmerized by what's happening in big firms, but clueless about what's going on in the bottom half of the profession," says Richard Sander, a law professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who has studied the legal job market. "Prospective students need solid comparative data on employment outcomes, [but] very few law schools provide such data," adds Andrew Morriss, a law professor at the University of Illinois who has studied the market for new lawyers. Students entering law school have little way of knowing how tight a job market they might face. The only employment data that many prospective students see comes from school-promoted surveys that provide a far-from-complete portrait of graduate experiences. Tulane University, for example, reports to U.S. News & World Report magazine, which publishes widely watched annual law-school rankings, that its law-school graduates entering the job market in 2005 had a median salary of $135,000. But that is based on a survey that only 24% of that year's graduates completed, and those who did so likely represent the cream of the class, a Tulane official concedes. On its Web site, the school currently reports an average starting salary of $96,356 for graduates in private practice but doesn't include what percentage of graduates reported salaries for the survey. "It's within most individuals' nature to keep that information private, unless it's a high amount," says Carlos Dávila-Caballero, assistant dean for career development at Tulane, who adds that his office tells prospective students to use the median figure as a guide because starting salaries vary widely. Academics who have studied new-lawyer salaries say that the graduate surveys of many law schools are skewed by higher response rates from the most successful students. The National Association for Law Placement, which aggregates and publishes national data based on those surveys, concedes that it can't vouch for their accuracy. "We can't validate the figures; we have to rely on schools to report to us accurately," says Judy Collins, NALP's director of research. A prospective student studying NALP data might conclude that the study of law is a sure path to financial security. For 2006 graduates who entered private practice, or nearly 60%, NALP shows a national median salary of $95,000, a rise of 40%, adjusted for inflation, from 1994 graduates. The NALP data also show that the percentage of graduates employed in private practice has been steady, fluctuating between 55% and 58% for more than a decade. But in law schools' self-published employment data, "private practice" doesn't necessarily mean jobs that improve long-term career prospects, for that category can include lawyers working under contract without benefits, such as Israel Meth. A 2005 graduate of Brooklyn Law School, he earns about $30 an hour as a contract attorney reviewing legal documents for big firms. He says he uses 60% of his paycheck to pay off student loans -- $100,000 for law school on top of $100,000 for the bachelor's degree he received from Columbia University. A glossy admissions brochure for Brooklyn Law School, considered second-tier, reports a median salary for recent graduates at law firms of well above $100,000. But that figure doesn't reflect all incomes of graduates at firms; fewer than half of graduates at firms responded to the survey, the school reported to U.S. News. On its Web site, the school reports that 41% of last year's graduates work for firms of more than 100 lawyers, but it fails to mention that that percentage includes temporary attorneys, often working for hourly wages without benefits, Joan King, director of the school's career center, concedes. Ms. King says she believes the figures for her school accurately represent the broader graduating class. She says the number of contract attorneys is "minimal" but declined to give a number. The University of Richmond School of Law in the last couple of years started to be more open about its employment statistics; it now breaks out how many of its grads work as contract attorneys. Of 57 2006 graduates working in private practice, for example, seven were contract employees nine months after graduation. Schools "should be sharing more information than they are now," says Joshua Burstein, associate dean for career services who put the changes in place. "Most people graduating from law school," he says, "are not going to be earning big salaries." Adding to the burden for young lawyers: Tuition growth at law schools has almost tripled the rate of inflation over the past 20 years, leading to higher debt for students and making starting salaries for most graduates less manageable, especially in expensive cities. Graduates in 2006 of public and private law schools had borrowed an average of $54,509 and $83,181, up 17% and 18.6%, respectively, from the amount borrowed by 2002 graduates, according to the American Bar Association. Students taking on such debt may feel reassured by incessant press reports of big firms scrambling to hire and keep associates. Making headlines this year was a bump up in big-firm starting salaries to $160,000 from $145,000 in many cities. And indeed, some law graduates of lower-tier schools do find high-paying private-practice law jobs. In recent years big firms have boomed thanks in part to the globalization of business and Wall Street deal making; firms have been casting a wider net for new lawyers, though they still generally restrict their recruiting at lower-tier schools to students at the very top of the class or on the law review. Some students have leads on a job at a family member's or friend's practice. But just as common -- and much less publicized -- are experiences such as that of Sue Clark, who this year received her degree from second-tier Chicago-Kent College of Law, one of six law schools in the Chicago area. Despite graduating near the top half of her class, she has been unable to find a job and is doing temp work "essentially as a paralegal," she says. "A lot of people, including myself, feel frustrated about the lack of jobs," she says. Harold Krent, Chicago-Kent's dean, said it's not uncommon for new lawyers to wait a few months to more than a year to find a job that's a good fit. He added that there is a "small spike" in employment after his school's grads receive their bar-exam results, several months after graduation, because some firms wait until then before hiring. The market is particularly tough in big cities that boast numerous law schools. Mike Altmann, 29, a graduate of New York University who went to Brooklyn Law School, says he accumulated $130,000 in student-loan debt and graduated in 2002 with no meaningful employment opportunities -- one offer was a $33,000 job with no benefits. So Mr. Altmann became a contract attorney, reviewing electronic documents for big firms for around $20 to $30 an hour, and hasn't been able to find higher-paying work since. Some un- or underemployed grads are seeking consolation online, where blogs and discussion boards have created venues for shared commiseration that didn't exist before. An anonymous writer called Loyola 2L, purportedly a student at Loyola Law School, who claims the school wasn't straight about employment prospects, has been beating a drum of discontent around the Web in the past year that's sparked thousands of responses, and a fan base. ("2L" stands for second-year law student.) Some thank "L2L" for articulating their plight; others claim L2L should complain less and work more. Loyola's Dean Burcham says he wishes he knew who the student was so he could help the person. "It's expensive to go to law school, and there are times when you second-guess yourself as a student," he says. Some new lawyers try to hang their own shingle. Matthew Fox Curl graduated in 2004 from second-tier University of Houston in the bottom quarter of his class. After months of job hunting, he took his first job working for a sole practitioner focused on personal injury in the Houston area and made $32,000 in his first year. He quickly found that tort-reform legislation has been "brutal" to Texas plaintiffs' lawyers and last year left the firm to open up his own criminal-defense private practice. He's making less money than at his last job and has thought about moving back to his parents' house. "I didn't think three years out I'd be uninsured, thinking it's a great day when a crackhead brings me $500." --Mark Whitehouse contributed to this article. Here is an example ad in Massachusetts for an experienced attorney, that mentions salary, it was posted this week. Most jobs don't state salary in the ad cause the pay is pretty low. Office of the District Attorney for the Bristol County District seeks staff attorney for the Appellate Division. Excellent writing skills and a passion for appellate advocacy are a must. Salary $37,500. Preference given to candidates who live in or will relocate to Bristol County. LOL, secretaries with no college can make more.

Question: how do i find a real estate lawyer in seattle, WA area, that IS NOT starting their own short sale busines? my sis and i are starting a short sale companay and are having a difficult time finding a real estate lawyer that will draw up the documents we need for our customers and agents. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE DIRECT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?

Answer: Try a title company. Most have an in house lawyer that could at least ut you in touch with someone if they can't help you.

Question: I have always been interested in real estate and law. How does one prepare to become a real estate lawyer? would like to know the path to become a real estate closing attorney? I have a B.S. in Information System but ready to switch gears.

Answer: Thats easy, Tale the LSAT ( law school admissions test) Go to Law School and graduate. Take graduate law courses in Real Estate Law.

Question: How do I find a real estate lawyer that specializes in cases against condo associations or the like? I need a lawyer so I can sue a condo association for negligence due to not repairing the roof and damaging the sale of the condo.

Answer: This is going to end up being very costly, and take a couple of years to settle. You would do well to make it a class action suit and spread the costs around.