Lawyer

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Work Tasks

• Know laws, rules, and regulations, and help clients to understand their rights
• Talk in court for their clients
• Interview their clients and witnesses, use law libraries, use computers, write reports, and get ready for trials
• Give companies advice about laws and may specialize in one area of law
• Work for themselves, the government, insurance firms, public utilities, real estate agencies, banks, businesses, nonprofit companies, and law schools
• Work with legal briefs and documents, reports, wills, trusts, contracts, mortgages, laws and regulations, reference books, computers, and client records

Salary, Size & Growth

• $114,500 average per year ($55.00 per hour)
• A large occupation (575,700 workers in 2010)
• Expected to grow moderately (1.3% per year)

Education/Training

• Minimum for Entry: To qualify for the bar exam in most states, an applicant must obtain a 4-year degree and graduate from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). This usually takes seven years of full-time study after high school, which is four years of undergraduate study followed by three years of law school. Law school applicants must have a bachelor's degree to qualify for admission.
• Skills /Courses: College courses include English, foreign languages, public speaking, government, philosophy, history, economics, math, and computer science.
• Certification/Licensing: To practice law in the courts of any state or other jurisdiction, lawyers must be licensed or admitted to the state bar under rules set by the jurisdiction's highest court. All states require that applicants for admission to the bar pass a written exam.