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Currently, people around the world can choose a career in law from a wide range of options that exist. For example, in the U.S., lawyers can choose to become Bankruptcy Lawyers, Immigration Lawyers, Personal Injury Lawyers, Private Practice Lawyers, Divorce Lawyers, and Employment lawyers. Even though these lawyers are accorded different titles, and specialize in specific cases or tasks, they usually share distinct similarities. For instance, in addition to completing complicated responsibilities, all lawyers offer services to consumers who want legal advice by representing those particular clients in court. Furthermore, all lawyers are always tasked with interpreting regulations, rulings, and laws for businesses and people.
The first crucial task of a lawyer is to assist his or her clients in court. During such sessions, communicating with the client is always a key factor to a successful hearing or trial. For a lawyer to be successful, he or she must be informed about the situation at hand in great detail (Irene Leonard, 20**) . Some of the tasks that a lawyer is expected to perform during a court case include presenting facts verbally and in writing for his or her clients as well as organizing and filing legal documents like deeds, contracts, wills, appeals, and lawsuits depending on the case of interest according to career planers.com (2018). In a nutshell, the simplified lawyers’ task is to interpret the law for businesses and individuals who seek their services. A lawyer also represents his or her clients in criminal and civil litigations or any other proceedings that might require the presence of a law expert. Similarly, a lawyer also prepares legal documents for his or her clients and advises them on any legal transactions that they might be pursuing Truity (2018).
The career path of a lawyer is fairly complicated. Becoming a lawyer can take up to seven years after high school. First, the student must possess a bachelor’s degree in any field to be admitted into a law school that takes approximately four years of undergraduate studying. Also, most law schools approved by the ABA require a person to take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) to be accepted according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics site. English, public speaking, history, economics, and math, are all useful classes to take (Joseph Smith,2016). A student then attends law school, passes, and gets his or her Juris Doctor. The student later takes and passes a state bar exam, and applies to be a lawyer at an established firm or settles to start a private practice. The person is then interviewed by the firm he or she applied to be part of and is later hired to become a lawyer. It is important to note that starting a private practice includes a lot of risks, however these lawyers usually produce a higher salary.
According to BLS (2016) statistics, lawyers earn on average $118160 per year with the highest paid lawyer receiving $208000, while the lowest paid often gets $56910 annually. The average starting salary according to BLS was $68375. This figure is however dependent on the location of the lawyer as well as the experience and difficulty of cases the lawyer handles. It is important to note that the employment of lawyers is expected to increase by eight percent from 2015 to 2026 (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016) .
Pursuing a career in law has many advantages and disadvantages. The benefits include a wide range of options to choose from, a good paying salary, flexibility (capability to shift from one industry to another), and the ability to help others. The disadvantages include dealing with endless stress and deadlines, client demands, changing laws, long working hours, and the considerable law school student’s debt often discussed on the lawyer’s favorite website. Suppose a person is interviewed and hired for the lawyer job, some of the cases the individual might handle can involve victims or suspects of violent crimes. Dealing with potentially violent people can put one (the lawyer) in danger.
