One of the types of people that are widely knowledgeable about laws are lawyers. Like any profession, every lawyer is an expert in a particular type of law. Every law type is different from another and focuses on issues that are unique and particular to a specific life situation.
People aspiring to be lawyers have to decide what particular law type they’d like to focus on. After their bachelor’s degree, they can start choosing a law school course that would focus on the law type they wish to pursue to help them be more knowledgeable in their law career.
Whether you’re an aspiring lawyer or want to learn more about law, this post is for you. Here are the four main types of law and their differences.
1 - Criminal Law
Criminal law is the most popular law type that many are familiar with. It’s the law we encounter daily, particularly in the news we see and hear. Criminal law is a confidential and sensitive field due to the gravity of the cases under it. By definition, it is the body of law that defines criminal offences.
Criminal lawyers
Criminal lawyers regulate the apprehension, charging, and trial of suspected persons. They defend clients in criminal cases and fight for justice to help them get the best ramifications. Being a criminal lawyer is one of the most challenging and emotionally draining career paths because of its sensitivity and brutality.
Roles of Criminal Lawyers
A lawyer working in the criminal law field has many career options aside from being a defence attorney. They also prepare and draft legal briefs and appeals. To defend their clients well, they present evidence to the judge and the jury if the case they’re handling will undergo a trial.
Criminal lawyers negotiate plea negotiations, punishments, and settlements. Criminal lawyers also train to learn about the developments in the legal field to stay up-to-date with the latest changes in law and formulate the best defences for their cases.
Crimes under criminal law
Crimes under criminal law have five categories. They are the following:
Crimes against a person
Crimes against a person refer to actions that result in physical or mental harm to another person. Examples include assault, battery, arson, child abuse, domestic abuse, kidnapping, and rape.
Crimes against a property
Crimes against a property typically involve intrusion cases concerning a property. These include theft, burglary, larceny, robbery, auto theft, and shoplifting.
Statutory crimes
Statutory are crimes that the statute prohibits to deter individuals from engaging in such acts. Examples of statutory crimes include alcohol-related, drug, traffic offences, and financial or white-collar crimes.
Financial crimes
The last criminal crime category is financial. Financial crimes involve fraud, blackmail, embezzlement, money laundering, tax evasion, and cybercrime.
2 - Corporate law
Corporate law concerns issues involving businesses and people who manage their companies legally. TheForage.com defines corporate law as the governing body affecting business formations, operations, mergers, and acquisitions. Corporate law is the body of law that governs the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organisations, and businesses.
Roles of corporate lawyers
One of the primary roles of a corporate lawyer is to advise clients of their rights, responsibilities, and duties in the corporate field. Their clients can be a person, a corporation, or a business. When a corporation hires a corporate lawyer, it represents the corporate entity. They don’t represent any employees or shareholders of the company.
Corporate lawyers are responsible for making contracts on behalf of the corporation. They also conduct due diligence, negotiate, and oversee the merging and acquisition of companies. They also help and guide their clients to create a framework for managing a corporation. Corporate lawyers advise clients on securities law compliance to regulate their business and avoid any crimes from happening.
Crimes under corporate law
Examples of corporate crimes are diverse. It includes white-collar offences like bribery, tax evasion, corporate fraud, money laundering, fraud, embezzlement, Ponzi scheme, corporate manslaughter, and more.
3 - Energy law
Legalcareerpath.com defines energy law as the governing body concerned with creating, enforcing, and challenging laws regulating energy use. Energy law covers concerns about the creation and harvesting of energy.
Roles of Energy Lawyers
The role of energy lawyers is to regulate and taxate existing energy sources like oil and coal. They also have the power to decide whether a specific energy source is legal or illegal and if they meet legal boundaries.
Aside from that, energy lawyers work with industries using energy sources–and municipal and public utilities. They also operate within national and international legislation frameworks because they assess and look for better and safer energy ways.
Crimes under energy law
Crimes under energy law are diverse. It includes breaching safety rules at nuclear facilities, terminating or limiting electricity supply, disconnecting life support sources, rendering life support facilities unusable, connecting to unauthorised energy sources, violating industrial safety requirements, and more.
4 - International law
The rules that the customs and treaties make are called international law. Those rules are acknowledged by nations worldwide to trade and build harmonious relationships. International law governs the legal frameworks that serve as a roadmap for countries to work together. Overall, international law creates a path of stability and understanding between nations.
Roles of International Lawyers
International lawyers are responsible for taking care of the legal practises on disputes happening on an international level. They work on cases concerning international trade and business.
An international lawyer represent, advise, and counsel individuals, organisations, and government entities. The coverage of their role is vast, and they also work on various specialities like taxation, intellectual property law, and more.
Crimes under international law
The crimes that fall under international law are very diverse and complex. But some of these are genocide, war crimes, torture, humanity-related cases, and enforced disappearances.
Every offence and wrongdoing falls under one of these categories and their subtypes.
All wrongdoing around us, regardless of their gravity falls under a specific law type. Educating yourself on the offences and nature of law is a wise move that will govern your daily lives better and help you act more consciously towards what is right and legal.
Written by Bianca Banda
Comments
0 comment