By LISA STANSKY

Boston lawyer Jo-Ann Marzullo jokingly calls herself a "dirt lawyer," given her workday diet of construction and real estate law. But don’t let the self-deprecating moniker fool you. There’s plenty of high-profile work in the realms of real estate law and land-use regulation.

Lest you think "dirt law" ranks low on the glamour or interest scale, consider these pop culture icons: Scarlett’s beloved Tara in Gone With the Wind, Los Angeles’ water war in Chinatown, and the real estate disasters immortalized by The Towering Inferno and Poltergeist.

Humans have a strong attachment for the land and what they build on it, guaranteeing work for lawyers indefinitely. The lawyers who do the deals have a good gut feeling for what they do.

The daughter of a construction engineer, Marzullo has the business in her blood: "I grew up on the drafting board," she says. Unless you really like doing real estate, you’d be better off doing something else, says Marzullo,

who chairs an emerging issues committee for the ABA Section of Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law (RPPT).

Marzullo’s practice focuses on retail real estate (representing both landlords and tenants) and construction law. In this world, cooperation is key. "You have to live with the people," she says of her clients in real estate transactions. "These are people you’re going to have to deal with month after month," she says. "If you do something they think is truly unfair, it’s going to come back to haunt you."

"I enjoy deals," says David Tang, chair-elect of RPPT. "Working in real estate exposes you to a lot of different deals." Tang has found his home as a partner with Seattle’s Preston Gates & Ellis, where he focuses on commercial real estate development and finance.

What if "doing deals" isn’t your bag? What if you’d rather work in the public sector, defend the environment, or serve low-income clients? Don’t write off real estate. From home sweet home to home on the wide-open range, the specialty accommodates a vast array of practice niches and styles.

On the grand scale, there are lawyers who help their clients secure rights to use land resources for irrigation, mining, or other activities. That’s the niche Salt Lake City lawyer Denise Dragoo inhabits, one steeped in environmental law issues. Those interested in environmental and land use matters will find great opportunities tied to the explosive development of America’s vast Western states, she says.

"It is a hot area for environmental attorneys or for land use attorneys," says Dragoo, chair of the public lands and land use committee of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. A partner with Snell & Wilmer in Salt Lake City, Dragoo’s clients include land developers and enterprises involved in providing pipelines, mining operations, water services, and irrigation.

"I enjoy working with developers, and I enjoy seeing a project to completion," she says. "It’s fun to work with people who are doing things."

To get a sense of how government sees development and land use issues, Dragoo recommends taking a government job (as she once did) even if you want to wind up in private practice. "You learn how the system works, and you get a lot of hands-on experience," says Dragoo, who worked in the Utah attorney general’s office. You’ll also get to know players who may one day become your clients, she notes.

If you want to build your career in the public arena, Dragoo suggests checking out municipal and county offices in the burgeoning Sun Belt communities. If your mission is to contain growth and development, consider whether the community where you’re job hunting shares your point of view. She points out that Boulder, Colo., is noted for fostering open spaces in its expanding environs. Or consider employment with nonprofit organizations whose development agenda matches yours, she says.

In the private arena, Tang says, you must understand how business works to understand what makes a real estate deal fly. "If you don’t have a general sense of business, it gets really hard," he adds. Terms like "profit margins," "securitized loans," and "depreciation" are not mere technospeak, he says, adding that the heart of the practice is "really understanding why projects work and how projects work."

Real estate deals occur all along the macro-to-micro spectrum, so you can tailor your practice to your personal preferences. Potential solo practitioners might focus on residential real estate sales and purchases of homes, Tang notes, adding that a key skill is mastering the real estate closing.

There’s work for the public-interest- minded as well. "Affordable housing is a huge area in real estate law," Tang says.

You may find a specific niche, like the one RPPT member Susan Voss carved out in the field of resort development and time-share arrangements. She developed a taste for this work as a legal assistant with Washington, D.C.’s Holland & Knight.

Voss went to law school in her mid- 40s, joined the firm’s cadre of lawyers, and made partner. Her work has two components: helping her clients achieve regulatory compliance and enabling developers to market their time shares and resorts in several states. Driving her practice are the engines of economic and demographic change—greater prosperity combined with greater numbers of Americans entering retirement.

Whatever angle to your practice, you’ll need more than the basics to enter the fray. Take a look at your course schedule. Tang says he and his colleagues lament the trend among law schools to use adjunct instructors rather than full-time faculty to teach the critical first-year property course.

The two most useful classes you can take are land use and bankruptcy, advises Marzullo, who wishes she had tacked on a course in partnerships and fiduciary duties while she was in school.

"You need to know enough bankruptcy [law] to know where the issues are," she says. Then get a job that will give you some hands-on experience. Students, Marzullo says, "need to find themselves jobs that will teach them the reality of it."

Voss advises students interested in the practice area to keep an open mind. "You never know what kind of real estate you’re going to be working in," she says, emphasizing that students should have a wide array of courses under their belts.

Don’t forget the importance of classes in administrative law and litigation skills, Dragoo says. In addition to course work in bankruptcy, add a class in creditor’s rights, advises Voss, who notes that a foundation in accounting principles is invaluable. Tang says students should steep themselves in real estate financing, partnerships, partnership taxation, and land use law.

All "dirt lawyers" must face this truth—there’s only so much of the stuff to go around. That leaves us with a question Tang poses: "How do we use a limited resource like land?" Answering that question requires brains, business savvy, and more than a dash of creativity.