The following is a list of major areas of legal practice and important legal subject-matters.
From, one of the five capital lawyers in Roman Law, Domitius Ulpianus, (170–223) – who differentiated ius publicum versus ius privatum – the European, more exactly the continental law, philosophers and thinkers want(ed) to put each branch of law into this dichotomy: Public and Private Law. “huius studdii duæ sunt positiones: publicum et privatum. Publicum ius est, quod statum rei Romanæ spectat, privatum, quod ad singulorum utilitatem; sunt enim quædam publice utila, quædam privatim". (Public law is that, which concerns Roman state, private law is concerned with the interests of citizens.) In the modern era Charles-Louis Montesquieu (1689–1755) amplified supremely this distinction: International (law of nations), Public (politic law) and Private (civil law) Law, in his major work: (On) The Spirit of the Law (1748). “Considered as inhabitants of so great a planet, which necessarily contains a variety of nations, they have laws relating to their mutual intercourse, which is what we call the law of nations. As members of a society that must be properly supported, they have laws relating to the governors and the governed, and this we distinguish by the name of politic law. They have also another sort of law, as they stand in relation to each other; by which is understood the civil law.”
Administrative law
Admiralty law or maritime law
Adoption law
Agency law
Alcohol law
Alternative dispute resolution
Animal law
Antitrust law (or competition law)
Art law (or art and culture law)
Aviation law
Banking law
Bankruptcy law (creditor debtor rights law or insolvency and reorganization law)
Bioethics
Business law (or commercial law); commercial litigation
Business organizations law (or companies law)
Canon law
Civil law or common law
Class action litigation/Mass tort litigation
Communications law
Computer law
Competition law
Conflict of law (or private international law)
Constitutional law
Construction law
Consumer law
Contract law