Sort of. You do kind of "specialize" but not nearly in the same sense as doctors. There's not any additional residency, fellowships, etc. You fall into a niche and that's what you do. You get to pick your electives during school, but that doesn't really matter either because it's all about who hires you first. Also, what you learn in school has very little to do with being a lawyer. I assume back in the day you got a bit more of a choice, but not really now. Certainly not in California, certainly not in this economy. I'll be lucky to get any law related job.
I'm also pretty sure that there's no such thing as a lawyer of any kind that's "in demand" right now. I read a statistic a few years ago that there were more law students at the time, than licensed attorneys. It can't have gotten better. In regard to patent lawyers, they require a specific, hard science undergraduate background. Biology, chemistry, physics, etc.; not psychology. It's not the kind of law I'd want to practice anyway. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get much of a choice.
To put things into perspective, nursing is supposedly one of the most in demand fields out there, and it took nearly 200 applications for my girlfriend to even get an interview. She fortunately nailed it and got the job. She was president of the Sacramento chapter of the National Student Nursing Association and near the top of her class. Imagine how difficult it was for everyone else.
Bright side of Sacramento, California: 1.5 hours from the ocean. 1.5 hours from the mountains. 1 hour from the forests. 1 hour from San Francisco, 1 hour from Lake Tahoe. The weather speaks for itself. All things considered, it would take something major for me to consider moving.
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