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Family law consists of statutes and case decisions that govern the legal duties between and among individuals who share a domestic connection. Family law usually involves parties who are related by blood or marriage, but could also affect parties in more distant relationships. Family law in the United States developed within each state. As a result, American family law varies significantly from one state to another. Despite the differences in family legislation and procedure, new trends in family issues, as well as the federal government's desire to create a uniform system of family law, general principles have become increasingly shared in all states and territories.

Most of the cases involving family law arise from the termination of marriage or romantic relationship. Divorce and annulment are part of family law. Dispute on alimony, child custody, visitation and support accompany divorce and annulment. Divorce is a messy proceeding that requires the expertise of attorneys. Divorce is also a complicated law by itself, especially when it comes to the division of property. Laws on property division greatly from one state to another, thus an attorney handling divorce proceedings must not only be knowledgeable on divorce law, but also on property law. Family law also governs the relationship between two individuals before marriage in the drafting of prenuptial agreements. In prenuptial agreements, which are enforced upon divorce, couples can opt out from a state's default rules on property division, but the terms of prenuptial agreements must still adhere to requirements laid out by the state. In addition to defending a spouse in a divorce proceeding, an attorney also has the capability and knowledge to seek out assets that the other spouse may try to hide from the other spouse so that that property cannot be reached by any order directing the division of such assets.

In addition to divorce, one of the most common issues relating to family law is domestic violence, which does not just involve current or former spouses, but also children and other members of the family. Domestic violence is a criminal offense that is punishable by both fines and incarceration. Domestic violence cases also go through the same process as a criminal case, although, because of the intimate nature of the relationship of the parties, the cases are often emotionally draining. Plaintiffs in domestic violence cases need to hire an expert attorney to, not just argue on family law, but also on criminal law.

Another exhausting litigation relating to family law is child custody. In uncontested cases, child custody may go smoothly. Contested child custody cases are battles, with the parties often already distrustful with each other. When child custody cases arise from domestic violence, the battle becomes more wearisome as the aggrieved party would be zealous to win custody of their children and fight for a protective order against the domestic violence abuser. Child custody cases are also emotionally draining especially for children subject to such proceedings as they need to be present in the trial for the court to determine their best interest.

Another difficult case accompanying child custody would be child support. The determination of how much each parent need to contribute to the rearing of the child is lengthy and may require numerous modifications. The bulk of a family law attorney's responsibility in child support cases would be arguing for their clients in modification proceedings.

Employment laws in the United States were rooted as counter measures against labor practices during the industrial revolution. Employment law is a constantly evolving set of laws promulgated to address issues relating to labor and employment. Both the employer and the employee are given rights and obligations under employment laws to ensure that workers are treated fairly, not discriminated upon, and receives benefits and wages that are legally due them. Employment laws are based on a combination of federal and state legislation and rules and court precedents. Federal employment laws are enforced by the Department of Labor.

Many cases involving employment disputes involve "wage and hour" violations. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires standard wages and overtime pay for private and public employees. States are, however, free to enact other laws to provide additional protections to employees. Under federal law, employers are required to pay a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for workers with health insurance coverage or $8.25 per hour for workers who do not have health insurance coverage. States can approve higher minimum wage and employers in those states must comply with those requirements.

The FLSA also requires employers to pay workers who render services beyond their required number of work hours. The FLSA does not limit the number of hours an employee can work per week, but does require that after 40 hours of work rendered, the employee should be compensated one-and-one-half times his regular pay. In "wage and hour" suits, the plaintiff may allege that he or she was paid below the required minimum wage or that he or she was not paid the overtime pay that was due him or her. The difficult part, on the side of the plaintiff, in suits claiming unpaid overtime pay would be defining what constitutes "overtime" work. Overtime is any work done beyond the regular 40-work hours per week. Numerous cases, however, have been filed seeking court determination of whether specific activities are considered "work" or not, and whether the performance of these activities would entitle workers to overtime pay. Research on case precedent regarding this issue is difficult as rulings vary from state to state. It is thus imperative to require an expert employment law attorney to conduct this extensive research.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against their current employees, former employees, or possible employees based on ethnicity, gender, race, religious, among others. Despite this prohibition, cases arising from employment discrimination remain prevalent. An employment discrimination lawsuit is highly procedural, requiring the plaintiff to fill-up forms and obtain assessment from certain agencies prior to being given the go-signal to pursue an employment discrimination case.

Moreover, another issue arising from employment law would be the interpretation of employment contracts. Most states presume that the relationship between the employer and worker is at will. There are numerous instances, however, when both employer and worker ask a court to interpret their contract. These instances often involve employers terminating their workers following the workers' filing of a compensation claim or filing a whistleblower suit. These illegal terminations are prohibited under the law, but employers are ready to defend their action, thus a plaintiff should hire an employment law attorney to counter employers' arguments.