Matthew Mincone | April 4, 2025 | Personal Injury
Lawyers have a reputation for holding one of the highest-paid professions in the country. However, that doesn’t mean that all lawyers are paid equally. The difference in annual income between a public defender working in a small town and a corporate lawyer working in a large city is quite considerable.
With that in mind, the following are some of the best-paid types of lawyers.
Tax Attorneys
According to Glassdoor, U.S. tax attorneys earn an average of $242,000 per year. However, that number is slightly misleading, as only about 60% of it is representative of their base pay. The rest is additional pay coming from things like commissions, bonuses, and profit sharing.
The reason that tax attorneys do so well is because their profession is focused on helping their clients save money. Most tax attorneys either help clients pay less after the government audits them or help clients file taxes in a way that minimizes their tax burden; either way, clients are usually quite happy to pay their tax attorneys a portion of their savings.
Patent Lawyers
According to Indeed, patent attorneys earn just a few hundred dollars less on average per year than tax attorneys. Again, that has much to do with the type of work that patent attorneys perform; they know the ins and outs of the patent process and help ensure that inventors keep control of the products that they create.
While some patent lawyers may charge a flat fee, others charge based on the success of the product. When a product is highly successful, a patent lawyer can make a large profit. Massively successful products are rare, but even one or two can keep an attorney’s average earnings quite high.
Corporate Attorneys
Corporate lawyers, somewhat surprisingly, earn quite a bit less than the previous two types of attorneys. According to Indeed, the average corporate attorney earns around $192,000 per year.
That may still sound exceptional, but corporate lawyers tend to work very long hours and often do relatively boring work. The average corporate attorney is working at least 60 hours a week helping corporations draft legal documents and stay in compliance with all relevant industry regulations.
Personal Injury Lawyers
Compared to their colleagues, personal injury lawyers are practically paupers, earning an average of $121,000 per year. These lawyers help guide people who are victims of unfortunate harm through car accident and product liability claims, fighting insurance companies to get their clients as much money as possible.
Furthermore, personal injury lawyers are also very likely to have highly variable incomes, and that is largely because nearly every personal injury attorney charges a contingency fee.
You can think of a contingency fee as a contract between a personal injury lawyer and their client. It states that if they win money for the client, the client’s legal fee will be a set percentage of any money the attorney obtains. Conversely, if they fail to win any money, the lawyer gets nothing, even if they spent a great deal of time or effort on the case.
In other words, a particularly bad year could lead to a personal injury attorney receiving almost no pay. In a good year, though, they could get as much as 40% of a multi-million dollar settlement.
Highly Paid but Worth It
Curiously, the clients of the highest-paid lawyers often don’t feel the pain of their legal fees. Personal injury clients, for example, end up with more money than they started with after hiring a lawyer, and those who turn to the services of tax attorneys usually save money by hiring them. At the end of the day, just because a lawyer earns a lot doesn’t mean their services aren’t a bargain for their clients.
Contact the Tampa Personal Injury Lawyers at Mincone Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
If you’ve been injured in an accident in Tampa, FL, contact our skilled personal injury lawyers at Mincone Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation.
We proudly serve Hillsborough County and its surrounding areas:
Mincone Personal Injury Lawyers
1925 E 6th Ave Ste 10
Tampa, FL 33605
(813) 800-0810
About The Author
Attorney Matthew Mincone is the founder of Mincone Personal Injury Lawyers. He earned his law degree while attending night programs in New York and is licensed to practice in Florida. With over 15 years of legal experience, Matthew focuses on personal injury cases, including motor vehicle accidents involving cars, commercial trucks, and motorcycles. His commitment to personally handling each case ensures clients receive dedicated representation. Click here to view some of the remarkable case results that Matthew has successfully achieved.
Location: Tampa, FL