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Criminal lawyer vs legal counsel

The differences between criminal lawyers and legal counsels can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a criminal lawyer and a legal counsel. Additionally, a legal counsel has an average salary of $132,867, which is higher than the $60,347 average annual salary of a criminal lawyer.

Criminal lawyer vs legal counsel overview

Criminal LawyerLegal Counsel
Yearly salary$60,347$132,867
Hourly rate$29.01$63.88
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs56710,337
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 43%
Average age4646
Years of experience44

Criminal lawyer vs legal counsel salary

Criminal lawyers and legal counsels have different pay scales, as shown below.

Criminal LawyerLegal Counsel
Average salary$60,347$132,867
Salary rangeBetween $33,000 And $110,000Between $81,000 And $216,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Apple
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between criminal lawyer and legal counsel education

There are a few differences between a criminal lawyer and a legal counsel in terms of educational background:

Criminal LawyerLegal Counsel
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 43%
Most common majorLawLaw
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaStanford University

Criminal lawyer vs legal counsel demographics

Here are the differences between criminal lawyers' and legal counsels' demographics:

Criminal LawyerLegal Counsel
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 35.7% Female, 64.3%Male, 54.2% Female, 45.8%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 6.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 80.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 6.5% White, 75.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between criminal lawyer and legal counsel duties and responsibilities

Criminal lawyer example responsibilities.

  • Provide litigation support by leading case investigations, gathering underwriting, claim, and agency information and subpoena responses.
  • General civil practice focusing on real property matters, business entity formation/representation, estate planning, and probate.

Legal counsel example responsibilities.

  • Achieve statewide recognition as expert on Medicare and Medicaid.
  • Manage high-risk employee terminations from initial decision through preparation for appeals hearings and any subsequent legal action.
  • Assist in liaising with insurance authorities, responding to regulatory inquiries and managing relationship with region from legal and business perspective.
  • Conduct anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) due diligence on a daily basis.
  • Ensure compliance with federal securities laws, NYSE rules, and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.
  • Draft position statements for EEO and other regulatory claims.
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