At first glance, law might appear to be a recession-proof field.

"It really depends on what area you're in," said Jeffrey Sherrin, president of Albany law firm O'Connell & Aronowitz PC. "The ones that are insulated are the ones that become more active during a recession."

Here's a look at which areas of law are relatively stable, and which ones are not so insulated from market swings.

• Government: Recession-proof
"If you're in a heavily regulated industry, regulated by the government, you're safer," said Sherrin. "The government doesn't slow down in a recession. In fact, the worse the situation a state or government is in, the crazier the means they'll employ to bring in money."

• Health care: Recession-proof
In a field that involves government programs and private payers, "poor economic situations lead to more disputes," said Sherrin. The more regulation, once again, the better a practice area fares in a recession.

• Real estate: Not recession-proof
Residential and commercial real estate lawyers have been hit as the housing market has ground to a halt in some areas.

Those particularly hard-hit, said Thomas O'Connor, Albany managing director for Hiscock & Barclay LLP, were the ones specializing in subprime securitization. With the subprime crisis, demand has dried up, and many lawyers specializing in this field lost jobs.

• Estate planning: Recession-proof
"People are going to die, and plan for their death, whether the economy is good or bad," Sherrin said.

• Bankruptcy: Recession-proof
Bankruptcy lawyers are busier when the economy tanks. Tough times mean that people lose their jobs, businesses fail. And bankruptcies increase as a result. Even when the current economy turns around, bankruptcy attorneys expect to remain busy.

"In an economy like this, we're busier than we were two years ago," said Paula Barbaruolo, a partner in Barbaruolo Law Firm PC in Latham. "But people get sick, get divorced and lose jobs all the time."

Both sides do well, O'Connor said: lawyers representing debtors and workout specialists on the other end, representing creditors.

• Personal injury: Recession-proof
"If you're hurt, you're not going to put off litigation. And you could argue that the worse the economy is, the more likely people will pursue litigation if they're injured," Sherrin said.

• Criminal: Hung jury
Sherrin said this area of law is generally not affected, but that "street crime will rise if people don't have jobs."

"You might think that when people are out of work, they steal, but I don't think that's true," countered O'Connor. Even so, he said, many criminal-defense attorneys are public defenders who wouldn't be affected by economic swings.

"White-collar crime," Sherrin added, "is not affected to any significant degree. Maybe someone could argue that if the economy is down, a guy will be more likely to steal from his company, but I don't think that's the case."

• Commercial litigation: Recession-proof
"Commercial litigation doesn't decrease in a recession," O'Connor said. "If anything, it increases. It's real speculation, but I think it's because when organizations are under economic pressure, they may be more inclined to look to litigation."

• Matrimonial: Not recession-proof
"Matrimonial (lawyers) are affected because there's less money to fight over," Sherrin said. "And with less money, people might not be able to afford (the divorce process), so they tend to try and work it out. So there's a slowdown."

In the end, however, the economy doesn't seem to be a deciding factor when a young attorney is considering practice areas.

"Whenever you're deciding what practice area to go into," O'Connor said, "you look at whether that area will survive a recession, but I don't think it's ever a big consideration."