There are several jobs you can get with a law degree, depending on the level of degree you have. These are some options for those who are interested in being in the legal field: 1. Probation officer
A Legal career is harder to leave than other alternative career paths, unfortunately. Since becoming a lawyer involves so much time commitment, you had to sacrifice other career possibilities. Unemployment is never easy, so you should prepare financially.
If you made it through law school, earned an advanced degree or worked full-time while earning your bachelor’s, you are most likely a certain type of person — one who is hardworking, responsible, and a critical thinker. You pay attention to details. You are able to see different sides of a problem.
A Juris Doctor degree is not required, but this job is often held by someone with a law degree. If you want to work closely with attorneys and provide crucial assistance to their caseloads, this is the perfect job for you. Your enthusiasm for the law and attention to detail, which you honed in your legal education, will not go unnoticed.
Alternative jobs for lawyersParalegal.Investigator.Investment consultant.Mediator.Fund manager.Financial analyst.Realtor.Labor relations specialist.More items...•
Similar Occupations About this sectionOccupationJob Duties2021 MEDIAN PAYJudges and Hearing OfficersJudges and hearing officers apply the law by overseeing the legal process in courts.$128,710Paralegals and Legal AssistantsParalegals and legal assistants perform a variety of tasks to support lawyers.$56,2302 more rows•Apr 18, 2022
While Lawyer was named the 71st best job in 2016, the list was dominated by medical and technology jobs. According to U.S. News, the field of medicine is the most appealing because of the high pay, low unemployment rates, awesome work-life balance, and general job satisfaction.
Lawyers and non-lawyers alike may pursue careers in these fields, including CPAs, auditors, actuaries, insurance adjusters, lobbyists and legislators. These types of jobs all require many or all the same skills as the practice of law, such as analytical thinking, investigative, writing, advocating and speaking skills.
Paralegals spend most of their time drafting and preparing legal documents. They draft legal reports and supporting documents to assist attorneys during the current case. Paralegals also draft complaints, legal briefs, interrogatories and pleadings.
$56,610 per yearAccording to 2020 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), legal assistants/paralegals earn an average salary of $56,610 per year ($27.22 per hour). Average pay will vary based on the state in which you are employed, the education you've earned and level of experience in the field.
However, according to data analysts, doctors are more paid than lawyers. Average a doctor gets an amount of $208,000 per year, while the average lawyer makes $118,160. Further, the data shows that 10% of lawyers only make a salary of $56,910.
In short, medical school is hands-on and requires a lot of memorization. Law school requires analytical work and critical thinking. Law school requires heavy reading and writing while medical school requires learning about problems through clinical studies and hands-on training.
Unlike lawyers, who must complete years of formal education and pass the bar exam to practice law, you can become a paralegal in as little as a few months of study. Consider vocational legal training such as a Certificate in Paralegal Practice, or volunteer your time to legal cases and projects to gain experience.
Possible job titles related to lawAdministrative lawyer.Advocate.Arbitrator.Attorney.Case manager.Commercial rights manager.Compliance officer.Compliance specialist.More items...
CLASSIFICATIONS OF LAWPublic and Private Law.Civil Law and Criminal Law.Substantive and Procedural Law.Municipal and International Law.Written and Unwritten Law.Common Law and Equity.
There are plenty of careers in law that don't require you to have a degree, here's just a few of them:Become a legal apprentice. ... Become a lawyer. ... Become a paralegal. ... Become a legal secretary. ... Make a career change.
10 Alternatives to Becoming a Lawyer: The Flexibility of a Legal Education. What does one learn in law school? Yes, law, okay. But the principles of law are only the tip of the legal iceberg. Law school is all about building character and gaining a trove of life skills. Life skills that come in handy for law school graduates seeking alternative ...
If you went to law school and decided not to practice law, make sure that your potential employer knows you aren’t looking for these jobs just because you can’t find a job as a lawyer.
Law school is all about building character and gaining a trove of life skills. Life skills that come in handy for law school graduates seeking alternative careers to a becoming a lawyer. The percentage of law students who end up working as lawyers has fluctuated significantly in the past decade. Around forty percent of law graduates do not practice ...
If your favorite aspect of learning law was mediating conflict between two parties, this is the path for you. Acting as an informal judge, an arbitrator helps move a case along before it goes to trial. A Juris Doctor degree is not required, but this job is often held by someone with a law degree.
Writing, negotiating and public speaking are valuable, but it’s not only the skills you gained during your legal education that will help you in both the legal and general workforce — it’s the character traits you built. Committing yourself to your education can be a challenge and if your goal is to earn an advanced degree, especially a Juris Doctor (JD), than the word “challenge” is an understatement. School (especially law school) is a place where one learns resilience and to push past perceived limits. It’s a place where you become you.
Responsible for client relations, reputation management, and much more, a legal marketer is the marketing expert in a firm with extensive knowledge about the services they are promoting. Having a JD is not essential, but it helps.
Around forty percent of law graduates do not practice law. This is partly due to the economy, with firms hiring fewer in-house lawyers, but it is also because more and more students are realizing the value of a law degree in countless other professions — from HR to government to business to teaching.
Having been through law school and possibly some form of employment, you may have valuable contacts in your network. Use them to your advantage and ask if anyone knows of nonlegal opportunities that may interest you. Even if your connections are in the legal industry, they may introduce you to employers in other fields.
Primary duties: Paralegals use their knowledge of the law to perform various legal tasks for lawyers. Employed by lawyers, corporations or other entities, paralegals draft legal documents, do legal research and attend client interviews. They also conduct investigations, though they don't represent clients in court as a lawyer does.
Primary duties: A realtor is a licensed real estate salesperson who is a member of the National Association of Realtors. Realtors guide their clients through the transaction process of buying real estate. They also answer client questions, serve as a point of communication between buyers and sellers and keep the transaction process moving along.
Primary duties: An investigator or detective collects evidence and information regarding a crime. They have many responsibilities, including speaking to witnesses, searching databases and arresting criminals. They have strong attention to detail and use their analytical skills to help them solve a variety of cases. 3.
Mediators also inform both parties of the mediation process, interview both parties, facilitate communication and answer questions. 5. Fund manager.
Primary duties: Private equity associates work in investment banking and handle a variety of related duties. Some of their responsibilities include fundraising, monitoring portfolio companies and reviewing confidential information memorandum.
Primary duties: Real estate agents represent the buyer, seller or owner of a real estate property. They attend client meetings, show the property to various parties and complete various office work .
Cynthia McFadden, currently the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC news, graduated from Columbia Law School. Jeff Greenfield, TV journalist (CBS-2007-11) and current political analyst on NBC, graduated from Yale Law School. These are just two examples where law graduates have utilized their learned skills to synthesize ideas, information, and communicate it clearly to an audience. Just as an attorney would in a court room.
The same qualities required to be great lawyer must be mastered to excel in broadcast journalism: 1 Judgment: draw reasonable, logical conclusions or assumptions from limited information 2 Analytical skills: distill large piece of information into something manageable 3 Research skills: able to research quickly and effectively 4 People skills: be personable, persuasive and able to read others
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, most mediators complete a 40-hour basic mediation course and a 20-hour advanced training course.
Real estate lawyers serve two primary functions in the real estate world. They either act as litigators or handle the legal aspects of real estate transactions. Real estate lawyers deal in real property and mediate real estate transactions gone sour. A real estate lawyer must obtain a juris doctor (JD) degree from a school accredited by the American Bar Association along with an attorney’s license through passing the bar exam. Some law schools may provide the option of specializing one’s studies around real estate law. After graduation, continuing education may be required yearly or every three years as it is so in forty-five states.
Within The United States Department of Justice is the Attorney General’s Honors Program-the largest and most prestigious federal entry-level attorney hiring program of its kind. Every year, various components and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices hire entry-level attorneys through the Honors Program. The number of entry-level attorney positions varies from year to year. Eligibility is generally limited to graduating law students and recent law school graduates who entered judicial clerkships, graduate law programs, or qualifying legal fellowships within 9 months of law school graduation and who meet additional eligibility requirements.
Estate law classes include topics like asset management, estate planning, family law, taxation, real estate law, and trusts.
The 40+% who chose to work in a law firm may be subjected to 70 hours of work weekly. Unless, you are fortunate enough to start your own practice, be prepared to put in 12 hour days and weekends. The financial benefits can be substantial, especially in personal injury law, but your personal life may be non-existent.
In fall 2020 alone, more than 114,000 individuals enrolled in a Juris Doctor (JD) program External link: open_in_new, according to the American Bar Association (ABA). This law degree paves the way to becoming an attorney External link: open_in_new.
Law firm jobs for non-lawyers do exist and encompass a wide array of opportunities. Professionals in such roles work on legal issues even though they do not argue in court.
A deep and nuanced understanding of the law can come in handy for professionals across all industries seeking nontraditional legal careers.
An MLS or MDR can potentially open up opportunities for people who want to advance in careers where legal knowledge or conflict resolution skills make a difference. Jarvis encourages students to think about what they want to do with their careers in order to determine which degree can serve them best.
Law school can also pair well with your undergraduate major for great job opportunities. Here are 10 examples: 1. FBI Agent/Investigator. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a specific career path for law school graduates and attorneys.
The FBI utilizes lawyers to work on cross agency enforcement of complex laws touching on both criminal, civil and administrative matters. Another option is work for a law firm as an investigator. In the face of litigation, lawyers rely upon investigators to help gather evidence and prepare for trial.
By using a mediator, the parties hope for an efficient resolution in terms of costs and time. An effective mediator, therefore, is tasked with finding a solution in the midst of a complex–often tense–situation. Many law students make excellent mediators especially those that understand conflict resolution and negotiation strategies. Many mediators also seek out advanced certifications that build upon their legal education.
Most CFO positions require an advanced degree such as a J.D. and many lower level financial jobs such as a tax manager or financial adviser prefer applicants with a Juris Doctor.
Magistrate judges are the first line of the judiciary in most state court systems. For most jurisdictions, there are no specific requirements to be a magistrate as most are appointed by the court administrators. However, law school graduates make excellent magistrates since they often possess a solid understanding of the criminal process and are comfortable following court procedures. Magistrate salaries vary widely by jurisdiction and generally increase–sometimes substantially–the longer a magistrate sits on the bench.
Many community colleges hire law school graduates to teach paralegal classes. Law grads with a strong background in writing can also find teaching jobs for legal writing and research–often at law schools who use adjunct teachers for these classes.
Corporations employ a lot of attorneys. They also utilize law graduates for all types of work that touches on legal issues. Corporate contracts are complex and critical to any organization. Reviewing contracts requires a thorough understanding of business law but also keen reading comprehension and analytical skills–two skills that most law students possess. Contract administrators also work hand-in-hand with the lawyers so sharing the same vocabulary is also critical to success. Contract administrators are also paid reasonably well with an average salary over $70,000.
Law Degree Jobs without Passing the Bar Exam. To qualify as a J.D. holder, you must complete three years of law school. Once you have completed this step, you will be able to sit for the bar exam to become a traditional practicing lawyer.
Law professors are needed at colleges and professional schools. According to the BLS, professors who teach law classes and are also engaged in research, earned a median annual salary of $113,530 in 2019 .
As of 2019, the median annual pay for claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners and investigators is $66,790. The highest 10 percent of adjusters earn more than $100,400, according to the BLS.
On average, technical writers make around $72,850 a year, according to 2019 BLS data.
They represent individuals and use trusts, gifts, and various tax planning structures to reduce the burdens of income taxes and estate taxes. They can also represent clients if problems arise with business ownership and lawsuits involving the IRS.
Companies rely on law firms and in-house counsel to help them boost their competitiveness. Many legal technology positions require a J.D. holder who understands the current digital legal landscape, can provide legal services and has the ability to establish credibility during product pitches to potential customers.
You don’t need to be a practicing lawyer to work within the U.S. patent or trademark office. A bachelor’s is the minimum educational requirement. This profession also calls for discipline, focus, and above all, reasoning. A patent examiner reviews legal documents, files paperwork, writes legal office actions and researches invention information. Pay for patent examiners varies widely.
People generally become attorneys because they are motivated, intelligent and have great work ethics.
Though law libraries are becoming less common in firms, the role of the law librarian is only intensifying .
A legal editor has the same basic duties as an editor, but focuses on editing and proofreading mostly for legal publications. If you have a fine sense of detail, and a canny sense of what writing is quality and worth pursuing, consider using your background in law to be a legal editor. 7. Legal Recruiter:
Most of these people will never become stars, and the same thing occurs with practicing law. The majority of attorneys work in the smallest law firms, for the government, and in other organizations without realizing the careers they thought they would achieve when they started practicing law.
There is so much competition, in fact, that for most attorneys, it often makes a lot of sense to choose an alternative legal or non-legal career.
Most attorneys (and law firms) will work for any client with the money to pay. While some attorneys will certainly draw the line at defending rapists, child molesters, or murderers, they will happily defend corporations, white collar criminals and other evildoers all day.
It's no surprise that doctors make a lot of money. Depending on the type of medicine they practiced, doctors made an average of $85,000 to $261,730 a year in 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Job requirements: Gradually moving up in a company can eventually lead to a CEO position for companies like Google and Hilton, who have dropped "college degree" from their hiring requirements, Glassdoor reported in 2020.
Job requirements: A 2020 study by Guidant Financial suggests that 30% of small business owners have a high school degree or GED. In 2017, a SurveyMonkey study found that the number of small-business owners with a high-school education is actually higher than the number with college degrees.
Job requirements: John Cox, a retired US Airways captain and aviation safety consultant, told USA Today in 2016 that you don't always need a degree to be an airline pilot. Some airlines require it while others don't. Cox recommends getting a degree because it will give you more job opportunities. For example, Delta requires its pilots ...
When you earn a master’s degree, you’re more marketable for leadership positions in your industry. Networking with other professionals through trade organizations and associations or even local leadership groups is a great way to meet people who might make hiring decisions later.
It is recommended to earn a master’s in the field before pursuing a doctorate. Biochemist. Biochemists work in laboratories and offices to study chemical and physical principles of living things. They conduct research, often in teams, and present results in papers and to other scientists.
Anthropologists and archeologists study the history of humans, including origin, development and behavior in an effort to learn from the past. They work all over the world in fields and laboratories to collect information, analyze data and compile samples that tell more about human life, culture and origins. $62,280.
Epidemiologists work in public health to research the causes of disease and injury among the population. They plan and manage health care programs and find ways to prevent a variety of diseases and other public health problems .
Librarians work in public, academic and medical libraries to help patrons find the information they need. They also teach children and adults how to conduct research, plan programs for different groups and research what resources are needed in their community to better serve its citizens. $58,520.
Psychologists work in different environments, such as in private practice, research, schools or as part of the health care system . They identify psychological, emotional, behavioral and organizational issues to diagnose disorders and create treatment or intervention plans.
Find out what’s available in your industry; holding the certifications or licenses with your master’s degree may be essential to growth and flexibility in your career. Apply for jobs.