Hot Legal Practice Areas for 2025

Updated on February 27, 2025

The evolution of legal hiring persists, and 2025 appears set to showcase a consistent uptrend in hiring for specific legal sectors. It’s an interesting time for legal hiring managers, law firm partners, and job seekers alike to explore some of the industry’s best opportunities for employment.

While it’s difficult to predict what the most in-demand careers will be for 2025, here’s a look at some of the top legal practice areas that we’re hearing will likely either stay hot or heat up this year.

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Top Legal Practice Areas: 2025

1. Corporate Law

Corporate law attorney and paralegal posts can be some of the most coveted, regardless of location. And positions like these are highly desirable for a variety of reasons.

Zippia.com reports corporate attorney positions are growing at a rate of 10 percent between 2018 and 2028. Moreover, corporate attorney salaries are on the rise, having increased 7 percent over the last five years. Both trends bode well for corporate attorneys and legal support staff looking for new opportunities in the year ahead.

2. Intellectual property (IP), data privacy, and security

Legal jobs for attorneys and paralegals working in licensing, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and data privacy will likely remain hot in the year ahead. The U.S. Census Bureau recently found that more than 5 million business applications were filed in 2021. This massive number of new business applications means there may be plenty of work for intellectual property attorneys.

Attorneys who specialize in data privacy and security will benefit from the ongoing shift away from analog to digital. Intellectual property hiring will likely continue to be one of the fastest-growing legal practice areas in the patent and trademark hotbeds of San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Austin.

3. Real Estate Law

Real estate attorneys review home offers, prepare home offers, analyze home inspection reports, and formally communicate with courts and opposing counsel. And that means plenty of work even as home sales may be slowing.

As noted by Zippia.com, there are nearly 7,200 real estate attorneys in the United States. Keep an eye out for this figure to grow in the year ahead as more real estate law attorneys, paralegals, and related positions are added.

Zippa.com also notes real estate lawyers in the United States are 74 percent more likely to be employed at private enterprises than the public sector, a trend that bodes well for job seekers in the country’s expanding private sector.

4. Healthcare Law

From workers’ compensation attorney posts to personal injury specialists, patient advocates, and defense attorney positions, there is no end to opportunities within the healthcare space. As a result, healthcare will likely remain one of the fastest-growing legal practice areas in 2025.

5. Family Law

From divorces to prenuptial agreements, adoption, matrimonial separation agreements, and beyond, there is plenty of work for family law professionals. Families need experts they can trust to navigate these complicated issues, so watch for upcoming windows of opportunity in this area.

Keep Your Finger on the Pulse of the Legal Industry

If there is one constant in the field of law and business as a whole, it’s change. Politicians come and go, laws change, and the legal landscape forms in response. Legal tech also continues to evolve, shaping practice areas in unforeseen ways. As we transition into 2025, the field’s hottest practice areas might not be as hot by the time the year ends.

Stay up to date on industry news and monitor tech as it continues to change so you can have a better sense of the specific practice areas most likely to present employment opportunities in the months ahead!