When it comes to choosing a career, you’re going to want something that is engaging. Nobody really wants to sit behind a desk doing the same old repetitive tasks all day every day, day in day out. You also want something that will pay generously, allowing you to have enough disposable income to live comfortably. Legal careers tend to tick all of these boxes. But for now, let’s focus on lawyers in particular. When you become a lawyer you get to deal with unique cases and a whole host of interesting individuals. The average lawyer also earns around $110,590 a year, but particularly successful lawyers can reel in millions annually. So, if this sounds good to you, let’s take a moment to look at how you can get into a legal career!
Internships
While many people believe that the first step onto the legal ladder is education, it’s important to remember that you can start gaining experience in the field before you even sign up for a degree. You can start taking a look at different Law & Legal Clerkships and Internships, which will allow you to shadow individuals working in the field and see how they go about organising their day to day lives. This will help to give you a good idea of what you can expect to do on a daily basis once you start working in the field, giving you an idea of whether it’s something that you want to pursue yourself. Carrying out an internship during your studies effectively gives you an insight into how the information you’ve studied can be put into real life practice. It also gives you plenty of experience to add to your CV alongside your academic qualifications, which will help you to get your foot through the door of a legal firm once you have graduated!
Education
There are many jobs out there where you can walk straight into the position, or solely require a little training from your employer before being put to the job. But careers in law aren’t quite like this. In order to do almost any legal job, you’re going to have to spend at least three years in higher education. This is because you need to have a thorough working knowledge of the law in order to assess incidents and put compelling cases together. While a bachelors is a minimum educational requirement, you may want to take a masters course or further course to choose an area of specialism. There’s more to legal careers than simply dealing with criminal law. You could potentially focus on areas as diverse as business or corporate law, maritime law, entertainment law, environmental law, real estate law, health law, immigration law – and these are just a few of the alternative fields on offer. We’re merely scratching the surface of potential options!
If you secure an education and plenty of experience in the field, you should be good to go! While you will have to work hard to become a lawyer, you truly will be rewarded by the time you start practising!
