What Can I Do With a Law Degree Besides Be a Lawyer?
Full Answer
More alternative careers for lawyers. Outside of the list above, here are 44 other jobs to consider after being a lawyer: Account manager. Bail bondsman. Banker. Border patrol. Career counselor. Contract administrator.
Once you've decided you no longer want to be a lawyer, it's important to consider what you want your next profession to be. Similar jobs, in particular, allow you to use what you learned in law school in a different capacity.
If you're looking for a career outside of a law office, there are several professions to consider. Many industries even offer positions where you can use the skills and expertise you learned in law school. Knowing your options can help you make a more informed decision regarding your future career outside of the legal landscape.
Along with considering your current skill set, it's important to determine your passion. Make a list of jobs that blend both your newfound passion and your current legal expertise. For example, your analytical skills or attention to detail can help you become an investigator, law professor or risk manager.
Paralegal/Legal Assistant If you want to work closely with attorneys and provide crucial assistance to their caseloads, this is the perfect job for you.
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.
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
However, there are many sectors of law which are less stressful:Real estate law.Intellectual property law.High Street family law.Government lawyers.Working In-House.
Although not admitted to practice law (except for those who have obtained a law degree), paralegals often perform legal tasks which are also performed by lawyers. Under the supervision of a senior lawyer they can run their own files and conduct work which may have otherwise been undertaken by a junior lawyer.
Attorney vs Lawyer: Comparing Definitions Lawyers are people who have gone to law school and often may have taken and passed the bar exam. Attorney has French origins, and stems from a word meaning to act on the behalf of others. The term attorney is an abbreviated form of the formal title 'attorney at law'.
$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.
How Much Do Lawyer Jobs Pay per Hour?Annual SalaryHourly WageTop Earners$129,500$6275th Percentile$96,500$46Average$80,743$3925th Percentile$60,000$29
A: In 2020, the average salary of a lawyer was approximately $12,410 a month, which amounts to about $148,910 a year. Q: Do lawyers who own private practices or partners in law firms have a higher salary? A: Lawyers working in law firms generally earn more than those who own private practices.
Solo practitioners, small firm lawyers, in-house counsel and government attorneys fall somewhere in between the two. Those lower-paid lawyers are much more likely to report being happy, according to a write up on the research in The New York Times.
Estate Planning Although being a legal clerk is the easiest career path, it is only suited for beginners. Estate planning wins the most stress-free legal practice area when practicing law for lawyers. Many lawyers avoid estate planning as it is a field of law associated with death.
You need to put in the necessary work throughout the program if you want to succeed. In summary, law school is hard. Harder than regular college or universities, in terms of stress, workload, and required commitment. But about 40,000 people graduate from law schools every year–so it is clearly attainable.
There is a lot that you can do with a law degree besides being a lawyer. Careers in consulting, marketing, or journalism are just a few professional tracks to consider. A non-legal career is a great option for J.D. graduates who want to leverage the skills they earned during their law school years.
If someone hasn’t gone to law school, but has an interest in law, he or she may work as a communications manager or chief marketing officer, or in functional roles for social media, market research or pricing strategy, Roach says. Business school graduates can be especially coveted by law firms for non-attorney roles.
This book contains career exercises, practical career-finding techniques, and a compendium of 800+ ways to use your law degree inside, outside or around the law.
Jobs directly related to your degree include: Arbitrator. Barrister. Barrister’s clerk. … Jobs where your degree would be useful include:
Trial Lawyers. Trial lawyers are among the highest paid legal professionals in the world. …
An attorney is considered the official name for a lawyer in the United States. … An attorney has passed the bar exam and has been approved to practice law in his jurisdiction. Although the terms often operate as synonyms, an attorney is a lawyer but a lawyer is not necessarily an attorney.
1. John F. Kennedy Jr., failed the NY bar exam twice before he passed on his third try.
Things you need to know if you’re exploring alternative careers for lawyers: If you’re in Biglaw, you’re not a failure because you’re human (even though Biglaw makes you feel that way ). If you’re trying to figure out what else you can do with your J.D., don’t rely on prestige ( it’s a liar ).
It’s no secret that being a lawyer is one of the most stressful jobs that you can have. There are task forces, books, and a multitude of articles written about lawyer stress and burnout.
It’s no secret that law is a stressful profession. Many lawyers struggle with anxiety, and the legal profession’s mental health stats are grim. Especially if you have a clinical mental health issue (and many lawyers do, and don’t even realize it ), the legal profession is practically designed to exacerbate anxiety.
Lawyers are not good at separating their identity from their job. I don’t know about you, but when I was working as a litigator, I felt like I had no time to be anything but a lawyer. There just wasn’t much time for anything else. That’s a pretty suffocating feeling when your job makes you miserable.
Some legal students prepare during law school for teaching careers, while others gain work experience and return to academia later in their careers to teach. Many undergraduate and community college courses focus on how the law affects specific fields, such as social work, banking or public administration. Instructors at community colleges teach continuing education courses or conduct public interest workshops or seminars. Create a series of seminars based on your interests in the field -- maybe surviving divorce court, family court, civil court, bankruptcy or homeowner associations.
Your law degree gives you an edge when you work on issues you care about, such as the environment, child welfare, mental illness or public policy. Courts and corporations use mediators and arbitrators, whose decisions are often legally binding, to settle disputes.
Gail Sessoms, a grant writer and nonprofit consultant, writes about nonprofit, small business and personal finance issues. She volunteers as a court-appointed child advocate, has a background in social services and writes about issues important to families. Sessoms holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal studies.
Sports and entertainment agencies are always looking for law school graduates to become agents because they know those grads are motivated, intelligent, and can negotiate deals. For more non-legal job ideas, see: 60 Nontraditional Job You Can Do with a Law Degree.
These positions include arbitrator, law professor, law school career counselor, and legal recruiter.
Harrison Barnes, the CEO of BCG Attorney Search, has seen it all when it comes to job searching. By running one of the top legal placement agencies, Barnes has found jobs for thousands of attorneys across the country, and he has helped others with JDs find their paths, even if that didn’t include being a lawyer.
The American Br Association (ABA) states that paralegals should avoid unauthorized practice of law. Independently and without supervising, paralegals cannot consult and advise clients (public) on legal matters, on strategy and tactics in a legal case.
Sometimes paralegals can work independently with significant restrictions. In this article, you will read further that paralegals can provide specific legal services alone or as freelancers without a lawyer. The tasks paralegal can perform without a lawyer mainly relate to document preparation.
Below I go over legal services that paralegals can provide without a lawyer.
Independent paralegals can offer their legal services to attorneys and law firms without any problem. A paralegal performs that service for an attorney. Therefore, it is implied that the attorney will review the paralegal’s work before using that work in providing legal services to the client.
Some federal and state agencies allow paralegals to represent clients without a lawyer. This exception probably was enabled to make legal services more affordable.
Paralegals can independently assist the public in preparing paperwork, filling out forms, and filing them with the agencies mentioned above. Paralegals should not put their signatures instead of clients, though.
On the other hand, some administrative courts allow paralegals to represent clients in proceedings without a lawyer. And even more often, paralegals are permitted to represent clients in administrative proceedings or hearings in various government agencies. Often, those proceedings and hearings are essentially administrative courts.