A high school student contacted our firm with their questions on the legal profession, and I thought that this might be
of interest to others.
1. How much competition is there to get into this line of work?
There is no competition really. As long as you get admitted to law school and then do the work to graduate, you will
learn what you need to learn to pass the bar exam and become an attorney. It is a lot of work, but you are really only
competing against yourself. No one else will stop you from achieving your goals. You just have to control "the man in
the mirror."
2. What is the most rewarding part of this career?
Helping others. There are a lot of people who are going through tough times, such as divorce or a painful injury, and I
get to help them make their lives better. If it is a divorce, I get to help them move through this stressful time and
hopefully on to a better time in their life. If they are injured, I make sure that the insurance companies pay their medical
bills, so that they can focus on recovering from their pain. If they want to buy a new home, I make sure that all the
paperwork is done correctly and that they are getting exactly what they were promised for the terms of the purchase
and their mortgage loan. I think of myself as an advocate for my clients. They often are not sophisticated and so if
they didn't have me looking out for them, then someone else might take advantage of them. I protect them from being
exploited or taken advantage of.
3. Where do you recommend I go to college to pursue my career choice?
Any college is fine. It does not matter at all. A lot of people go to a community college for the first 2 years and then to
a state university for the last 2 years. This is perfectly fine. Going to a university for all 4 years or paying for a "name
brand" private school for your bachelor's degree gives you absolutely no advantage in getting into law school and
becoming an attorney. The most important thing is to make the best grades that you can at whatever school you go to.
I also recommend avoiding student loans. Although law can be a financially rewarding career, sometimes it takes a while
to get your career going and you don't want those student loans weighing you down. Also, it is a very good idea to take
a Kaplan course to prepare for your LSAT exam. Getting a good LSAT score (along with your good GPA) really ensures
that you will get admitted to law school. Later, when you graduate law school, you should also take a BAR-BRI course
to prepare for the Bar exam.
4. What personal interests would I need to have in order to enjoy this career?
Any personal interests. It doesn't matter. I know lawyers with all kinds of personal interests.
5. How do you think going to college for the amount of time you did benefit you in your career now?
It benefited me because I could not be in this career if I didn't graduate from law school. That is a requirement for the job.
I took dual enrollment classes in high school, so I only had to go to college for 2 1/2 years to get my bachelors degree.
Then, I took summer classes while in law school, so I graduated in 2 1/2 years from there. So, for me it was only a total
of 5 years after high school. I definitely recommend dual enrollment in high school if you can do it.
It gets you a big head start, and it is FREE!!
6. What can be stressful about this career?
You are often dealing with your clients during the most stressful times of their lives. Perfectly nice people can be rude,
freaking out, upset, angry, etc. You really have to develop a way to mentally ignore your clients' emotions. With
emotional clients, I just let them talk and get their feelings off their chest. It often takes 15-20 minutes for them to vent
what they are feeling. I try not to internalize what they are saying or take anything personally, even if they criticize me.
After they have their say, then I try to reassure them. I tell them not to worry about it and I will take care of it for them.
I encourage them to get some good sleep and take care of themselves. People often do not sleep well when they are
stressed and this can contribute to them being emotional and upset. The other challenging part of the job is staying
organized. The clients' files need to be kept very orderly. You have to organize your plan of action for their case, so I
am always making check lists. You also have to organize your time so that you get everything done for your clients
when it needs to be done.
7. How many hours do you work per week and do you have control over that?
55 hours per week. I do not have control over that because the firm I work for is very controlling of the amount of time
that we work. However, a lot of attorneys do have much more control than I do. If you worked for a firm that allowed
you flexibility or if you set up your own office, then you could have a lot of control over how much and when you work.
8. How are you able to have a personal life along with having this job?
There are 168 hours in a week. If I spend 55 hours working and 56 hours sleeping, then that leaves 57 hours for my
personal life. That is really plenty if you don't waste a lot of time in front of the TV or playing video games. I rarely
watch TV or play video games like I did when I was a teenager. When I am not at work, I spend the time with my
husband and kids.
9. How often do you have to go against your personal beliefs for your job?
I never go against my personal beliefs for my job. However, sometimes I do follow a client's direction to take a course
of action that I would not choose for myself. For example, there are times that I would not sue someone, and I would
just walk away from the situation because the stress and the cost of litigation is just not worth it to me. However,
my client wants to pursue the litigation, so I do it for them as their advocate. I can not make those decisions for my
client. I can tell them what I think I would do if I were in their shoes, but I cannot control their choices. If a client
wanted me to do something that is unethical, I would withdraw from representing them.
10. How often are you actually in a court room and how often are you in an office or doing desk work?
I am in the "court room" probably once or twice a week. The reason that I put "court room" in quotes is that most
hearings are actually held in the judge's office, which is called the judge's "chambers." They are not held in the court room.
Most of the job of being an attorney is doing "desk work." I would say that desk work is about 80-90% of the lawyer's job.
I definitely recommend taking a typing course.
