An attorney, on the other hand, is going to work M-F, office hours. You may end up taking work home, in fact you will, but your scheduled hours will be better. Your starting salary will not be great–around $60K per year, but that is just to give you a chance to get established. It is understood that you are to bring in your own clients, and you usually work on a percentage basis–your law firm gets a certain percentage of the money you earn from your clients, and you get a certain percentage. If you build up your clientele or win big judgements in law suits, you can become a millionaire almost overnight–there is no limit to what you can earn. I think the figures that the other posters have given are low for an attorney working in a good private firm. My son is an attorney, and he does well. I have a friend who is a senior partner in a very large international firm, and she makes millions.

That being said, why is your concern which pays more? If it’s not something that you’re interested in, you’re going to hate the job regardless of what it pays–being miserable every day of your life is not worth any amount of money. Choose your career based on your interests instead of on pay.

but you have to be good at it.

there is a lot of ‘street smart’ sort of knowledge that comes with being a lawyer, so i’ve been told.

on the other hand, anyone could be trained as a pharmacist, and they’d spend the lion’s share of a decade in school.

Average Hourly Pay: $42.62

Average Annual Salary: $88,650

for a lawyer

Average Hourly Pay: $53.13

Average Annual Salary: $110,520

WINNER = lawyer!

**And this is for anyone, you do not have to be the top of your class

With law, their is more room for potential earning, but you are not guaranteed this type of money initially out of school.