How To Pursue A Legal Career

While most people view the legal industry based on what they’ve seen on TV in shows like ‘Law and Order,’ the industry is very wide and diverse. The world of law can range from maritime law, all the way to property acquisition and everything else in between. The first step of pursuing a legal career is to decide what part of the law you want to specialize in.

For example, Rachel Lader is interested in becoming a trial lawyer, so she made sure to choose an internship where she is able to help prepare cases for trials and writes blog posts for the firm’s website.

If you aren’t sure what type of lawyer you want to be, or what type of job you want inside of the legal sector, then this is where choosing a university to pursue your legal career can be especially helpful. The university courses will help you to find what interests you as you’ll learn about many different types of law areas and what they entail. 

Another great resource is by interviewing or speaking with lawyers within your social network to see what they enjoy or don’t enjoy about the areas of law in which they practice. This can help you to get a real-world view of day-to-day operations in order to see what type of legal work does or doesn’t interest you.

Once you’ve picked the area of law that you want to work in, the real work begins. Making sure that you pass your bar exams and complete your law school curriculum is of utmost importance. Your goal should be to excel in law school so that you have the chops and grades to show that you are an asset to a legal firm. 

The next step is selecting a legal internship that will help you to gain the experience needed in order to graduate from law school and to pursue your career. Becoming a legal intern can be a bit tricky, but it’s important to use the resources available to you. The first place to start is by using the career center at your law school to see if any local firms are looking for an internship. Internships can be paid, but are often unpaid. Regardless of whether the internship is paid or not, the main goal of an internship is to gain experience. 

Gaining the right experience is vital, so making sure that you pick a firm that deals with the type of legal work you want to do are important. While working at a family practice law firm can get you some basic experience, if your goal is to be a trial lawyer, you should seek a different type of law firm that will get you into closer proximity with the type of work that you want to pursue. 

As you can see, a legal career can be a very rewarding one, but it does take work in order to succeed. By picking a good law school as well as an internship, you can start your journey on a satisfying legal career.