People choose law for different reasons; one potential draw is making a fortune in their chosen field.
A lawyer’s salary largely depends on their location and education background; different specializations of lawyers may earn more or less depending on their field of practice.
David Boies
David Boies is well-known for his electrifying courtroom performances; his ability to deliver speeches without reading from notes earned him the moniker “the Legal Buddha”. Additionally, Boies is rich; owning multiple houses and an oceangoing yacht as well as an expansive vineyard in northern California.
His professional accomplishments include helping break up Microsoft monopoly and representing Al Gore in 2000 presidential case that decided who would become president. Unfortunately, however, recently he has faced high-profile setbacks related to representing disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and Theranos blood-testing company with founder Elizabeth Holmes accused of fraud.
Boies Schiller Flexner, established by Boies with Jonathan Schiller and Donald Flexner, continues to thrive today; its hourly rates are among the highest in legal practice. But recently its reputation has taken a significant blow when The New York Times reported that one of Boies’ clients are accused of sexual harassment or trafficking.
Daniel Petrocelli
Daniel Petrocelli may not be well known, but he’s an exceptional trial lawyer. A partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP firm and chair of its trial practice committee, Daniel is best known for securing $33.5 million for the families of OJ Simpson’s victims in their civil wrongful death suit against him.
The Los Angeles Business Journal refers to him as one of Los Angeles’s “most sought-after entertainment lawyers”. Specializing in complex litigation and business disputes, his focus includes representing household-name entertainment clients while acting for financial sector companies to handle antitrust and profit participation matters.
He’s currently engaged in one of the industry’s most important–and likely expensive–court battles: Warner Bros.’ dispute with the family of creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster over Superman rights. Additionally, he’s fighting multiple executive poaching lawsuits on behalf of media companies like ViacomCBS, Activision Blizzard, and Fox. Born and raised in New Jersey, he initially studied music before realizing trumpet playing was unlikely to pay the bills; eventually turning his focus towards law school where he graduated magna cum laude from Southwestern University Law School with honors in 2009.
John Finley
John Finley was a classicist known for writing books and articles that displayed impressive powers of synthesis, mastery of ancient texts, meticulous reading in multiple languages, careful argumentation, and a wide-ranging understanding of style, historical moment, aesthetic effect and moral questions. This collection contains both autograph manuscripts and typescript drafts of Finley’s replies to correspondence as well as carbon copies of speeches he delivered at colleges, universities and secondary schools.
Finley served as Fox News svp of development until this past April, where he oversaw show development for the network and was instrumental in the launch of several shows such as Sean Hannity’s The Five, Outnumbered with Joy Behar and Life Liberty & Levin hosted by Mark Levin. Furthermore, he played an essential role in shaping Fox Nation, the streaming service offered by Fox News.
Kathryn King Sudol
Specialist lawyers often command higher fees. Intellectual property lawyers protect valuable inventions and trademarks; to do this successfully they must possess in-depth knowledge in specific domains in order to understand and defend clients’ rights, as well as handle complex financial transactions efficiently. Such professionals typically work for large law firms that have both resources and quality assurance measures in place that allow them to attract prestigious clients.
After 24 years at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Kathryn King Sudol will depart her position as global co-head of M&A to become general counsel at US investment giant KKR. She will take over for David Sorkin who has served in this capacity since 2007 but plans on transitioning into advisory partner status by Q1 2023.
Sudol advises corporate and private equity clients on complex and high-profile merger and acquisition transactions across a range of industries, as well as serving on the Board of Trustees at New York University School of Law.