Sihyun Kim
April 28, 2006
Career Research and Exploration Paper
Law plays a huge role in maintaining order in society, and, therefore, lawyers inherently
play a crucial role in life. Lawyers are responsible to become both advocates and advisors to
other members of a society. As advocates, lawyers must represent clients in either criminal or
civil trials by presenting evidence and arguing in the courtroom. As advisors, lawyers counsel
their clients outside the courtroom regarding their legal rights and the various ways in which they
should pursue matters in either business or private life. Of course, all lawyers must research the
intent of law in society in order to carefully apply it to the various circumstances they face
regardless if they act as advocates or as advisors.
The more specific aspects of a lawyer’s tasks and responsibilities depend upon his or her
field of specialization in law. For instance, while all lawyers are trained to represent clients in
court, some are required to appear in court more frequently than others are. Those who are
generally required to appear the most frequently are lawyers who are specialized in trial work.
Because trial lawyers must be able to represent their clients in front of a judge and jury, they
must have the skills and abilities to think fast and speak with clarity and passion. Nevertheless,
even trial lawyers do not spend most of their time inside the courtroom. On the contrary, they
spend the majority of time outside the courtroom doing various tasks such as research and
interviewing clients and witnesses.
Besides in trial work, those who are aspiring to become lawyers may have the option of
specializing in other various areas, such as in bankruptcy, probate, international, or elder law.
The range of possible fields in which lawyers can find themselves is quite large, and it is not too
uncommon to find some working for environmental interest groups, waste disposal companies,
or construction firms in their dealings with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while
others working to help protect clients’ claims to copyrights, artwork under contract, product
designs, or computer programs. Many of these lawyers work in private practices and represent
individuals who are looking for assistance in litigation, wills, trusts, contracts, mortgages, titles,
or leases. Still, a significant number of lawyers work for a specific employer. Most of these
lawyers work for either a corporation or the government. Lawyers who work for the latter are
employed at all levels of the government. Those who work at the State level usually play key
roles in the criminal justice system, while those who work at the Federal level help investigate
cases for the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies.
Because of their positions of great responsibility, lawyers must have a very strong
background in academics. Applicants of lawyers are usually required to undergo seven years of
full time study after school — four years at an undergraduate college or university, followed by 3
years of law school. Admissions into law school is quite competitive, and, therefore, prospective
lawyers are highly encouraged to develop strong proficiency in writing, speaking, reading,
researching, analyzing — skills that are critical not only in law school, but also in their careers.
Regardless of the major one decides to pursue in his or her undergraduate college or university, a
multidisciplinary background is highly recommended. For this reason, those pursuing a career in
law should take as many courses as possible in the following disciplines: English, foreign
languages, public speaking, government, philosophy, history, economics, mathematics, and
computer science.
The biggest factor in one’s admissions into law school is the LSAT, and, therefore,
preparing for the exam should be one of my biggest concerns during my years as an
undergraduate student. According to Princeton Review, the LSAT heavily emphasizes logic in
their questions. An applicant to law school should have the ability to perform the following tasks
with the utmost proficiency: (1) determine main points of arguments; (2) apply logic to abstract
concepts; (3) find relevant information within a text; and (4) analyze and evaluate arguments.
For this reason, I should spend my next few years as an undergraduate student taking full
advantage of a liberal arts education. I have already taken courses that range from those of
Composition and Shakespeare to those of Calculus and Linear Algebra. Once I transfer into a
four-year college, I fully intend on maintaining the same manner of studies. In addition, given
that the LSAT has sections on reading comprehension and writing, I feel that I should strongly
consider a bachelor’s degree in a major that requires extensive reading and writing — such as
history. In addition, I must make sure that I amply read materials that are unrelated school. This
preparation, however, does not appear to be much of a burden since I already spend a good
portion of my free time reading books.
Ultimately, I feel that preparation for law school is mostly an academic effort.
Nevertheless, there are few indispensable skills that every lawyer should master that cannot
really be learned inside the classroom. For instance, because lawyers are constantly required to
interact and communicate with others inside and outside the courtroom, skills in speaking, active
listening, and negotiation are quite crucial. For this reason, those hoping to become lawyers
should take the time to learn how to effectively interact with other human beings. Therefore, I
wish to pursue an internship that deals with social work. I feel that working in a counseling
center, for example, can tremendously help me learn how to interact with others even if I may
not be able to relate to their situations. In addition, I feel that working with a supervisor to help
special individuals in various therapy and outreach programs will help me gain the skills as an
advisor. While such an internship may not necessarily relate to law, I am confident that the
experiences I will gain in social work will help me overcome the barriers in communication that
I might have to face as a lawyer in the future.
Work Cited
Occupational Information Network. “Summary Report for Lawyers.” [http://online.onetcenter.or
g/link/summary/23-1011.00]
The Princeton Review. “The LSAT in Detail.” [http://princetonreview.com/law/testprep/testpre
p.asp?TPRPAGE=87&TYPE=LSAT-SECTIONS]
U.S. Department of Labor. “Occupational Outlook Handbook.” [http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos05
3.htm]