I want to be a lawyer, but...?

Question

Well, I want to be a lawyer after high school.

My questions are:

-Specifically, what do lawyers do? Do they sit at home all day researching their case prior to the trial?
-How many years do I have to study on AVERAGE?
-Is it a hard job?

Answer 1

7 years, typically.

Expect to spend four years getting a bachelors degree, plus 3 more for a law degree. After you graduate - unless you're rich - you can expect to start your working life with an average of over $200,000 in student loan debts.

Then, you can expect to spend your first several years working as an associate, where most of your day will be spent writing legal papers, or reading other lawyers legal papers, filing routine motions, doing the paperwork for real estate or stock transactions, etc etc etc. The average workload for an Associate in the US is almost 70 hours a week - and no, you don't get overtime.

Only when you're experienced and known enough that clients start asking for you by name will your pay start to take off. The average US attorney takes 10 years in the business to pay off his student loans.

If you're interested in actually trying cases in court (which is a VERY small part of legal practice) then you can get a job with a Public Defenders office and spend about 90 hours a week hearing some low-life scuzz tell you that it's YOUR fault that he got convicted of beating up his girlfriend, because if you weren't a worthless "public pretender" you'd of gotten him acquitted - even though it actually took four cops to pull him off her and he was still actually hitting her when they got there.

Richard

Answer 2

I agree with the other answers especially Rickinno. I am a Public Defender and clients do act exactly like his example but it beats running around doing mundane tasks. My case load is extremely high and I win more cases than I should because the State Attorney's office here has even more turn over than we do. The Federal Government has just passed a bill (House did but waiting on Senate) that will pay off all student loans for public defenders and state attorneys. If you get a good score on the LSAT and a high GPA in undergraduate school you can get a scholarship to law school as well. Most attorneys go into an office and work or Court. A typical case load for me is between 200-300 clients. 1 week I have Court Hearings like arraignments (people are advised of their charges and appointed to our office if they can't afford to hire a private attorney), Motions, Pre-trials, etc. I meet with clients and we plan their cases. I discuss all of the options like for a DUI--whether the officer had probable cause to stop the driver, was it videotaped, the breath test results. The client may want to plea no contest or guilty, have a trial, or negotiate for an amended charge.
I meet with a lot of clients in jail because they cannot bond out. Every other week I pretty much have trials.
All in all I love being an attorney. There are numerous options for attorneys and alternative careers as well.

Answer 3

What you do as a lawyer depends on what kind of law you practice. Most people don't know what kind of law they want to practice until later in life. You might do corporate law and decide you want to do criminal. If you go to work at a big corporate firm, they work you really hard (70 hour weeks) and you do mundane stuff like sorting discovery materials for cases which they don't allow you to participate in unless you've been there over 3-5 years. I am a criminal defense attorney and so I get to go to court every day for basic appearances, hearings and trials. I also have to prepare motions for my client's case to try to get evidence suppressed. Law school is hard work but it's interesting and if you don't want to be a lawyer it is a degree that you can use in almost any other field. Email me for more info.

You have to get a 4 year degree and then go to law school for 3 years to become an attorney.