What do you need to become a Lawyer?
Becoming a lawyer is not necessarily the easiest course to follow, but there are certainly enough rewards at the end of the road to make the decision of going for it. The study of law can lead to a large variety of employment, including politics. No matter what your reason is of becoming a lawyer, you should first ask yourself a few questions. Once you are settled in your decision, you can follow the path we will describe below.
What it takes to become a Lawyer
Lawyers are people who’s minds think analytically and logically. A person who would like to enter into this profession needs to have a certain amount of knowledge from the start and a higher capacity to process them all together, in order to come to logical conclusions. In the end, it is the book of laws that will dictate the logic to follow, but if someone does not know how to process information in a pure way to start with, it will be very difficult for him or her to perform well at their job. They may not even make it through the LSAT that is required before being accepted into a law school, since most of them have a limited number of students that they accept every year.
The technical information that they will learn in school, once they are accepted, will provide them with a higher understanding of how human societies work. Regular individuals do not see life as following a set of rules, but this is precisely what it is. Any society has its own rules (even those who are unwritten), and everyone needs to follow them or be punished for their actions. To do so, a set of regulations need to be follow, such as advising the parties involved through legal documents sent via a service of process, and proving a point in a court of law, not through common reasoning but by describing how an action was indeed unlawful or not. In other words, from the moment a person decides to study law and is accepted into a law school, he needs to accept that the rules of law are to be the logic that they will forever follow, while bending them whenever the need occurs, in order to prove their client’s action were right, in the first place.
The Path to follow to become a lawyer
First: Get an Undergraduate Degree
Before you even think about applying to law schools, you first need to complete a Bachelor’s degree, in any field of study. What really matters is that the grades you have received are high, which is one of the most important things a law school will be looking at.
Second: Take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test)
In most countries, including Canada and the USA, the LSAT is a standardized test that is required to go through and to pass, if one is looking to be admitted to a law school. What it mainly measures is the reading and analytical skills of the student, as well as his logic; elements which are considered crucial to succeed in law schools. Tests may vary from one school to another.
Third: Apply and enroll in Law Schools
If you have passed the general LSAT, you will receive your score. This will matter, as you will need to provide it to the law schools where you will be applying. If you are accepted, know that you will have to follow classes for three years (in most schools). There will be a variety of subjects touched upon, which will include criminal, constitutional and contract laws.
Fourth: Go through Legal Clerkships or Internships
The more experience you will be able to get through these formative years, the better your chances of finding a great job, once you have passed the bar exam (next step). Therefore, you need to look for opportunities to work in legal clinics, intern in legal workplaces or complete clerkships to gain practical experience. Some schools may find them for their students, while others will let them look by themselves.
Fifth: Pass the Bar Exam
Even if you have completed law school, that doesn’t make you a lawyer just yet. You still need to pass the bar exam before you can consider getting a job as a lawyer. The bar needs to be passed in the state where you will be practising law. It is there to test your knowledge of the law and to examine your ability to apply it in real-life legal situations.
Keep in mind that there may be special requirements in the region or country that you live in. Therefore, make sure to find them all out first, before initiating your course.
