How To Become A Lawyer
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You Need a Strong Appreciation of the Law and Desire for Justice to Succeed as a Lawyer
To become a lawyer, you not only need extensive education, but you also require a firm understanding of your career ambitions in order to choose an appropriate section of law to concentrate on, as well as other professional attributes such as passion, dedication and diligence. It can be a hard and gruelling position that can be stressful and time-consuming, but helping someone in need or representing a worthwhile cause can make it very rewarding. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that the industry will grow in a similar capacity as most other careers in criminal justice, with a projected increase of about 13% until 2018, but with proper education and experience, you could be eligible for salaries ranging from $78,000 to as high as $163,000, so it is a worthwhile field to go in to.
Required Education
Being trained as a lawyer is a lengthy process, because you first need to obtain a 4 year bachelor's criminal justice degree to then be eligible to attend law school for an additional 4 years. Your bachelor's degree can be in most any major, and although some pre-law bachelor's degrees exist, it is more common for students to achieve degrees in areas like political science, criminal justice, accounting, international relations or business. Any of these subjects can also be taken online at reputable schools like the University of Phoenix Online or Kaplan University. Once you have earned a bachelor's degree, you can then take your Law School Admission Test (LSAT) to hopefully be accepted into law school to attain your Juris Doctor Degree (JD) in 3-4 years. What that is fulfilled, you can study to take the BAR in your state to be licensed to practice law.
Job Duties
With training in areas like civil procedures, criminal and constitutional law, contracts and legal writing, you will be skilled for many specializations in law, but the general duties are the same. You will give people counselling, investigate claims and present cases before the court to be judged. You can choose to concentrate in a myriad of areas like family law, labor law, health care, personal injury, environmental, bankruptcy, tax or intellectual property, and each domain will require you to focus your talents in a different direction. You may have to represent the state using laws to fight corporations, you could argue on behalf of a child or a couple undergoing a divorce or a custody hearing, or you could have to defend a suspect accused of a violent crime, all depending on which area you choose to go into. It is therefore essential that before becoming a lawyer, you assess your own strengths and convictions to know what area you are best suited for.
Criminal Justice Degree |
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