Law FAQs

A: Everyone must make decisions about balancing their personal and professional lives. Like many professions, law careers can be demanding. However, you will learn time-management techniques in law school. After you graduate from law school, you will be able to apply time-management skills to your professional and personal life. Earning a law degree can help to put you in control of your life.

A: Some people believe that getting a law degree leads only to practicing as an attorney, but, depending on your particular interests, the skills you will learn in law school can open doors to many different types of careers. You may be interested in public service, business, government, mediation, public policy, and other careers that involve comprehending complex problems and finding solutions.

Depending on your interests, you could become a specialist or general practitioner:

• Specialists are lawyers who focus their expertise on one field of law – real estate, entertainment, criminal, and patent law to name a few. These lawyers are typically employed by larger law firms that provide a full range of legal services.
• General practitioners handle a variety of law issues, and therefore have more opportunities to work in several areas of law.

Start exploring the many career options that come with getting a law degree today!

A: Every law school has a career services office dedicated to helping graduates find job opportunities, and, as a result, most law school graduates find employment. Your success in law school and on the bar exam, and your dedication to the job hunt, are important elements in your search for the right job.

To find out more information on law schools’ job placement programs and placement statistics, click here or visit www.nalp.org.

A: Law practice is so diverse that it is not possible to describe the so-called typical lawyer. Each lawyer works with different clients and different legal problems. However, certain basic legal skills are required of all lawyers. They must know how to:

• analyze legal issues;
• find the common links in diverse documents;
• advocate the views of groups and individuals within the context of the legal system;
• provide intelligent counsel on the law’s requirements;
• write and speak clearly; and
• negotiate effectively.

Becoming a lawyer is hard work, but very rewarding in many ways. It is important, intellectually stimulating, challenging, and always changing. It can be financially lucrative, prestigious, and can open doors to many successful directions in life. Lawyers help people, change lives, and even make history. There are few other professions that have such broad potential.

A: There are so many ways that expertise in the law can help a community. With a law degree, you work on issues like:

• inequality in the justice system;
• employment discrimination;
• immigration;
• landlord/tenant disputes;
• divorce, child custody/support;
• and so many others.

By becoming a lawyer, you can help shape future laws and work to ensure that existing laws are enforced fairly for all people. If you want to help make a difference, consider a career in law and start preparing today!

A: The legal profession needs more lawyers who are African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American to serve an increasingly diverse society.