Law subject at school becomes one of the most popular subjects that most students choose. If you are interested or studying the law, you might realize that there are some different types of lawyers and practice areas of Law in Australia.
The various types of law and the practice areas might confuse you if you do not learn about them. This guide will simply explain to you some types of lawyers in Australia and their practice areas. However, the first thing you must understand is the general meaning of a lawyer.
Understanding the General Meaning of Lawyer
A lawyer is a literal title given to a person who legally practices the law. Lawyers will give legal suggestions and assist people who need legal services because the lawyers have the knowledge to support, solve and represent clients in the court.
There are many types of lawyers as they work in different practice areas. Each area will focus on specific problems. But you need to understand that most of the jurisdictions differentiate lawyers into two which are barrister and solicitor.
A barrister is a lawyer who will mostly take care of complex cases and appear in the higher court. On the other side, a solicitor is a lawyer who will mostly give advice and represent clients in the lower court. However, the word lawyer itself represents both barrister and solicitor in Australia.
Types of Lawyers and the Practice Areas of Law
Here are some different types of lawyers and the practice areas of Lay in Australia you need to know.
1. Family Lawyer
In the practice area of Family Law, Family lawyers will deal with domestic relations and family matters, including child law, divorce, spousal maintenance, financial settlements, adoption, and surrogacy. Since the latest 19th, the family has grown up dramatically, so judges and legislators must have redefined and re-examined legal relationships. If you live in Karratha Western Australia, you can get an initial free consultation from Vice Legal. Karratha solicitors specialize in family law.
2. Human Rights Lawyer
Human rights law is dealing with the rights that every human should be entitled to and ensure that all humans have the same rights to live peacefully. Human rights lawyers ensure that every individual does not get any discrimination or persecution because of their gender, religion, age, nationality, disability, and any other reasons. This law is commonly concerned with the fundamental rights to prevent abuse.
3. Animal Welfare Lawyer
Not only humans have the right to live peacefully, but animals do also deserve their right to live peacefully in nature. This law is concerned with giving protection to the animals to live. Thousands of innocent animals have no legal voice that thoughtless people exploited them brutally. This law exists as the protection for the animals to be kept away from violence.
4. Environmental Lawyer
As we go further, mother nature is the home we should protect due to many reckless people just brutally harming the environment. This law is concerned with all human activities that might damage nature. Environmental lawyers focus on some issues, including climate change, water management, native title, and conservation controls.
5. Criminal Lawyer
In the practice area of Criminal law, Criminal lawyers mostly deal with people who did punishable actions that cause damage to other people either to their properties or to themselves. The practices area of Criminal Law includes harmful acts, drugs offenses, and traffic offenses.
Moreover, it also covers some other crimes such as robbery, terror, assaults, rape, deception, murder, and other deliberate and destructive acts. Criminal law is mostly under government control and established by statute. Mostly, barristers would specialize in this area when they have the skills and knowledge required.
6. Banking and Finance Lawyer
Banking and Finance Law is where loan transactions and financial products become the focus in this area. This area includes legal matters in banking and finance transactions, including mergers, liquidations, banking issues, contracts, acquisition, and other issues. Banking and Finance lawyers work in simple bank loans up to a huge company with complicated financial arrangement structures.
7. Employment and Labour Lawyer
Employment and Labour Law is the law that regulates the relationship between the employees and the employers. This area aims to keep both parties having their rights. The Employment lawyers will work to fix various cases, including sexual harassment in the workplace, employment contracts, wages, whistle-blower protection, discrimination in the workplace, and other cases related to employment.
8. Corporate Lawyer
Corporate Governance lawyers aim to guide how businessman forms their companies, how they do the transactions, the shareholders, creditors, and other corporate-related. Especially in Australia, the corporations will be regulated by the Corporation Act 2001, which is controlled by ASIC or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Above are some different types of Lawyers and the practice areas in Australia. More areas have not been mentioned, such as Civil Litigation, Consumer Law, Corruption, Estate and Will Planning Law, Media, Arts, and Entertainment Law, Taxation, Technology, and Personal Injury Law. Each law has its concerns to control, protect, and ensure that no one will be harmed.
