I wana be a lawyer, lost on what I should major in?

Question

I feel stupid for asking, but I'd be stupid to not to and screw myself up. Anyway, i wanna be a lawyer, not a trial lawyer, but like a corporate lawyer, working in an office type thing. I keep getting asked what i'm going to major in in college, and I honestly have no idea what to chose to best prepare me for that (ideal) goal, and for law school.

Answer 1

Anything!

Honestly... law schools look at how well you did and don't care very much about what you did. You should do something that's going to require you to analyze and write... classes where you just have to memorize things are not going to help you very much... you can't just memorize law school and do well on the exam because you have to spot issues and apply the law and analyze both sides.

That said, I don't think the sciences would help you very much. You need a serious challenging major, so no phys ed or health type majors that the athletes often major in. Fine arts won't help you much.

What will help you are things like: english, political science, philosophy, maybe psychology (but I think that's still a little to memorize-centered... because it's usually a science and medical type approach), foreign language (lower level is all memorization, but then you have to do reading just like english)...
Philosophy tends to be the best for the LSAT... philosophy majors are often the best at the LSAT and the MCAT. Poli sci is the standard major because you learn government and law and politics and a lot of things that are pretty useful as a lawyer. English is good because you have to read, write, and analyze just like you do in law school, except about a completely different subject matter. I don't really know about the others... presumably foreign language would be a lot like english (I started a spanish major and I took some classes from literature to writing to linguistics).

Just choose something you like and can do well in... but make it somewhat challenging. You don't want to have to struggle through undergrad, but law schools might not take you seriously if you got all As in basket weaving. We have people from a lot of majors in law school. There's actually a doctor who practiced medicine until he was like 50, then decided he wanted to go to law school. Apparently there was a geologist who had a lot of trouble with writing... we had a how-to-make-a-sentence review on the first day and this guy had spent the last 30 years writing things like "rock brown hard" as his sentences. So if you already know how to write, it's better.

I double majored in political science and philosophy and minored in British Literature... I was one class away from having a spanish minor, but the stupid school changed the course numbers and didn't tell me, so I registered for a class I wasn't allowed to take because of the prerequisites, then they wouldn't let me into the correct class in my final semester. The philosophy was the hardest because it was the most abstract with the most analysis and writing, but it was the greatest preparation for law school that I could have. That's the major I'd recommend if you're at all interested in the subject. But really, nearly anything can get you in to law school. Whatever you choose to do, good luck!

Answer 2

Truth is, doesn't matter. I majored in English until I took an intro Philosophy class, which I enjoyed. My prof knew I wanted to go to law school, and suggested I look into Philosophy--for the logic, crital thinking, formulation of arguments--great major. However, I think English would have served me well too--writing skills are critical. Having said that, any fundamental education will help. If you want to get into corporate stuff, you could major in business or something like that. Anything too technical (engineering) is pretty much a waste of time unless you plan to combine it with law, which is always a possibility.

Some colleges have pre-law programs--you could look into that. I don't know much about the offerings--I didn't go that route.

Remember--if you want to do something specialized as a lawyer, like tax, estate planning, etc, you can learn the legal perspective in law school (and those specialties have LLM programs for special certification--one addititional year).

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Take an English writing course or even better, an intro to journalism--any course that teaches good writing skills. Many attys cannot put together a simple declarative sentence. That's critically important. You can put together a difficult corporate document that people can read--what a concept! I'd take as many government courses as possible. You can't work in the corporate world without knowing fed'l, state and local government. Take an intro to planning course if it's offered. Take intro to psychology and to sociology. Becoming skilled at any foreign language will open the world to you--I think Spanish is one of the easier languages, but the market is in China--although the Chinese businessmen all speak English. Huge corporate opportunities in Latin America though. Take an American history course. The good news--you don't need much math or science. You rely on other professionals for that. I'd try for a well-rounded liberal arts education, including an introduction to speech. Just because you're not interested in litigation doesn't mean you don't have to be persuasive. If mediation or alternative dispute resolution is offered--take it. After you become an atty, you have to take continuing legal education every year (my state requires 17 hours), so you can hone skills in your area of interest after you graduate. Finally, because of your interests, take all the business courses you can.

Answer 4

Your undergraduate major is not that important for most areas of law.

That being said, some undergraduate training is useful for particular areas of law. For example, if you were going into politics, then polici or sociology would be useful. If you were going into patent law, then one of the hard sciences (chemistry, physics) or engineering might be appropriate. And from criminal defense or prosecution, a CJ background is often helpful.

Business is always a good standby if you plan to enter the corporate arena, as it will prepare you for many of the concepts you'll deal with after you graduate. Of course, an undergraduate degree as a paralegal will expose you to many of the concepts you'll encounter in law school.

There is no single best answer, except to pick a field that you will enjoy, and that you will be able to earn high grades to get into a good law school.

And whatever major you pick, take as many Logic or Critical Thinking classes as you can -- they'll help you prepare for the LSATs.

Answer 5

The easiest way isat Community colleges they have administraion of law and justice, I would suggest taking that. It is only a two year degree but you can finish pre-requisutes to make it a transfer degree to a four year. When you finish a four year apply to law-school. You can succeed and dont settle for less. There are many ways of doing it. The best way is getting a BA or MBA in business Administration-Management then going to lawschool. Most of the time corporation lawyers will be working with white collar crimes.
You can do it! Goodluck!

Answer 6

Since you want to be a corporate transactional attorney, I would really really recommend majoring in business and/or accounting. They do come in VERY HANDY. Take clases in which you are able to develop your writing/thinking skills as well, such as english and/or philosophy. Maybe a minor in either of those subjects! DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TAKING LAW CLASSES OR CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN UNDERGRAD! They are SERIOUSLY a waste of your time, money, and major. You will learn all of that in law school, I promise! In all seriousness, you will want to go into business/accounting

Actually since you want to do transactional work, maybe a major in accounting would be the best for you.

Answer 7

Since you want to be a corporate attorney, taking business classes would be prudent.

However, much of being an attorney is writing. Thus, I recommend taking writing classes, or even majoring in English.

You will learn about criminal law and procedure in law school, so taking criminal justice classes would be unnecessary.

It is a long road. Good luck!

Answer 8

You obviously need to take as many law classes as you can in your four year schooling. Based on the field you want to go in, I would recommend a business major of some sort. HR management would be a great field.

Answer 9

Major in something that will develop your analytical and research skills. If I was going to be a lawyer, I would major in Psychology.

Answer 10

you can go to law school with any major but to be a corp. lawyer, you might want to be a business major to have a better background.