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Legal consultant vs attorney at law

The differences between legal consultants and attorneys at law can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a legal consultant and an attorney at law. Additionally, an attorney at law has an average salary of $108,018, which is higher than the $75,024 average annual salary of a legal consultant.

The top three skills for a legal consultant include litigation, regulatory compliance and legal research. The most important skills for an attorney at law are litigation, law firm, and legal research.

Legal consultant vs attorney at law overview

Legal ConsultantAttorney At Law
Yearly salary$75,024$108,018
Hourly rate$36.07$51.93
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs16,1187,025
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 46%Doctoral Degree, 52%
Average age4646
Years of experience44

What does a legal consultant do?

A legal consultant uses legal practice knowledge to enhance a law company's efficiency and profitability. Besides advising on the right solutions for customer productivity, marketing and development strategies, legal consultants also actively manage risks by consulting on program and legal-related issues. They help the parent law firm meet its objectives by analyzing problems and developing solutions. Other than negotiating, drafting, and reviewing legal documents, legal consultants also conduct legal research and analyze the right securities, insurance, and retirement plans.

What does an attorney at law do?

An Attorney at Law is responsible for preparing and examining contracts involving leases, licenses, purchases, sales, etc. They advise clients concerning business transactions, claim liability, or legal rights and obligations.

Legal consultant vs attorney at law salary

Legal consultants and attorneys at law have different pay scales, as shown below.

Legal ConsultantAttorney At Law
Average salary$75,024$108,018
Salary rangeBetween $40,000 And $139,000Between $69,000 And $166,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DCWashington, DC
Highest paying stateNew YorkCalifornia
Best paying companyAlston & BirdWhite and Williams
Best paying industryProfessionalRetail

Differences between legal consultant and attorney at law education

There are a few differences between a legal consultant and an attorney at law in terms of educational background:

Legal ConsultantAttorney At Law
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 46%Doctoral Degree, 52%
Most common majorLawLaw
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Legal consultant vs attorney at law demographics

Here are the differences between legal consultants' and attorneys at law' demographics:

Legal ConsultantAttorney At Law
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 49.0% Female, 51.0%Male, 54.6% Female, 45.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 6.4% White, 75.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 5.5% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 6.3% White, 75.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between legal consultant and attorney at law duties and responsibilities

Legal consultant example responsibilities.

  • Manage day-to-day legal affairs of NYSE list airline.
  • Experience includes analysis and advice regarding claims relate to exotic securities agreements.
  • Represent individual and institutional clients in all aspects of commercial and residential real estate acquisition, financing and leasing and foreclosure.
  • Audit key financial and claim-relate regulatory processes including Medicare fraud.
  • Conduct discovery: documents productions, interrogatories, witness depositions.
  • Demonstrate expertise in preparing documents and discovery responses relate to interrogatories, request for admissions, and request for production.

Attorney at law example responsibilities.

  • Manage a civil practice focuse primarily on representing claimants in securities arbitration proceedings.
  • Support tort, real estate, probate, appellate, and business litigation with outside counsel in California.
  • Sole practice of law in the areas of corporate, juvenile matters, probate, real estate, securities and taxation.
  • File garnishment actions; defend tenants, landlords and assort other parties in proceedings in small claims and landlord tenant courts.
  • Document review for internal investigation of FDA filing practices
  • Advise technical, scientific and regulatory personnel on FDA legal requirements.
  • Show more

Legal consultant vs attorney at law skills

Common legal consultant skills
  • Litigation, 16%
  • Regulatory Compliance, 9%
  • Legal Research, 8%
  • Financial Statements, 5%
  • Client Relationships, 5%
  • Legal Issues, 5%
Common attorney at law skills
  • Litigation, 23%
  • Law Firm, 10%
  • Legal Research, 7%
  • Juris, 4%
  • Real Estate Transactions, 3%
  • Trial Preparation, 3%