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The differences between legal investigators and lawyers 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 investigator and a lawyer. Additionally, a lawyer has an average salary of $115,808, which is higher than the $72,914 average annual salary of a legal investigator.
The top three skills for a legal investigator include investigative reports, litigation and legal investigations. The most important skills for a lawyer are litigation, law firm, and legal issues.
| Legal Investigator | Lawyer | |
| Yearly salary | $72,914 | $115,808 |
| Hourly rate | $35.05 | $55.68 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 9,582 | 2,897 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Legal investigators are professionals tasked with providing research, investigative services, and surveillance to the public, insurance companies, financial institutions, law firms, banks, and even local law enforcement agencies. They use methods and tools to uncover facts about financial, personal, and legal matters. This type of investigator must pay attention to analyzing details and evidence, but it will be difficult to know to begin. There is no need for formal education to be a legal investigator, one must take a legal investigator certificate course.
A lawyer is a legal practitioner who specializes in understanding and interpreting laws and other legal matters. Their responsibilities revolve around providing legal counseling and advice, representing clients in different kinds of court proceedings, conducting research, collecting evidence, and coordinating with various experts. A lawyer must also manage and oversee the performance of assistants, paralegals, and other team members. Furthermore, there are instances when a lawyer must draft or manage documents such as contracts, trusts, deeds, and wills, assisting clients as needed.
Legal investigators and lawyers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Investigator | Lawyer | |
| Average salary | $72,914 | $115,808 |
| Salary range | Between $45,000 And $117,000 | Between $64,000 And $208,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between a legal investigator and a lawyer in terms of educational background:
| Legal Investigator | Lawyer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Most common major | Criminal Justice | Law |
| Most common college | University of Richmond | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between legal investigators' and lawyers' demographics:
| Legal Investigator | Lawyer | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.0% Female, 34.0% | Male, 48.5% Female, 51.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 6.5% White, 75.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 5.4% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 6.3% White, 76.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |