Legal Careers - Careers in Law

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Today's successful law office includes more than a lawyer or two working litigation cases. Go behind the front desk and you'll discover a network of appointment secretaries, research aides, and paralegal professionals who work as a team to support briefs, motions, arguments, judgments and successful award settlements.

The legal system interacts with almost every level of our society, whether business or personal, and there are a wide range of legal careers within the profession.

Legal Careers: Choices

Lawyers, also called attorneys, act as both advocates and advisors in our society. As advocates, they represent one of the parties in criminal and civil trials by presenting evidence and arguing in court to support their client. As advisors, lawyers counsel their clients concerning their legal rights and obligations and suggest particular courses of action in business and personal matters. Whether acting as an advocate or an advisor, all attorneys research the intent of laws and judicial decisions and apply the law to the specific circumstances faced by their client.

Training for Legal Careers

Whether you're just beginning your way into the field of law or advancing an existing career, there are law schools, legal colleges and universities, and paralegal and legal assisting schools that can prepare you for the journey. Law school graduates earn the degree of juris doctor (J.D.) and pass a bar exam for the state in which they hope to practice.

Legal assistants or paralegals can earn trade certificates or associate and baccalaureate degrees that prepare them for top research work at law firms, government agencies, or corporate law departments. Legal secretaries can learn their trade at dedicated business schools with a law focus to prepare them in the filing of subpoenas, briefs, complaints, and summonses

Employment Outlook for Legal Careers

The trend in law practice today is for firms to rely more and more upon support services of assistants and paralegal professionals to take on research and preparation duties once handled exclusively by attorneys.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a great number of positions will open across the country in legal assisting fields over the next decade to support this trend. If you begin training now, you'll be ready when the jobs come open.

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Legal Careers Featured Schools

For information on Legal Careers, please visit any school below and request more information.