There are many different types of lawyers out there. The law in places like the United States and Canada can be so complex that most attorneys must become highly specialized. Most legal specialties are things that you will (probably) never need to care about: unless you run a farm, for instance, you probably don’t care much about the finer points of agricultural law.
But there are a few specific lawyers who you may very well need someday. Here are four of them.
Business and tax attorneys
If you started a business or work as a sole proprietor, you should probably talk to an attorney. Sure, it’s fine to just freelance and file your taxes as an individual, but this denies you some tax deductions and leaves you exposed to legal risks.
If there’s no separation between you and your business, then there is no barrier between your business’ losses and yours. If you run a business that requires overhead costs or has legal liability concerns, this could really come back to haunt you.
So talk to a lawyer about setting up your business as a legal entity, and ask about things like liability, taxes, and profits. You’ll be glad that you did. You may also need a tax attorney if you are ever audited, even if you don’t have your own business.
Criminal defense attorneys
If you never break the law, you never need a criminal defense attorney, right? Wrong, as any criminal defense lawyer will tell you.
Unfortunately, wrongful arrests are all too common in the United States and other countries. Even worse, wrongful convictions are common, too — which just goes to show how important it is to hire an expert criminal defense attorney to protect your rights.
Whether you’re innocent or guilty, no matter what level of crime or accusation, you need to lawyer up and be careful. Don’t talk to the cops without an attorney present, even before you are arrested. It cannot help you, and it could very easily hurt you.
Personal injury attorneys
You’ve heard of personal injury attorneys, of course: they’re all over billboards and TV advertisements, telling you that you “may be entitled to compensation”. But you might not give much thought to calling them until something happens.
And if you are injured, as the ads always say “through no fault of your own”, then you’re suddenly going to realize just how important personal injury attorneys actually are. Injuries are expensive here in the United States — and in Canada, too, according to expert Vancouver personal injury lawyers. And as medical bills stack up and your income drops due to an inability to work, you’re going to start worrying about your finances and your family’s future.
Personal injury attorneys can help you fight back. You could file suit and hold the person or organization whose negligence caused your injury responsible for the financial and personal consequences you’re suffering. You may never need a personal injury attorney, but if you ever do, you’ll see why tort law is so important for wrongfully injured people.
Probate attorneys
When you’re young, it feels like you’ll live forever. But as we grow older and perhaps grow our families, we realize that the world is so much bigger than us, and that we won’t be here forever. We want to make sure that our loved ones are cared for after we’re gone, and that they get all of the things we want to leave behind for them. So we turn to a probate (or “wills and estates”) attorney to create a will.
Probate attorneys are also the ones who probate the will and estate after we pass away. We may need their help when a loved one passes. Even the most organized estates need the help of a probate attorney to get through the red tape and reach their heirs.
