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What is a Lawyer's career goal?

How should one prepare oneself in high school for a career in law? What are the qualities which future lawyers display at a young age?

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    There's really nothing specific you can do in high school in order to become a lawyer.  The days when just about every attorney was a college liberal arts major who then went straight on to law school are definitely in the past.  A lot of good lawyers train as engineers, scientists, mathematicians, etc., or are "second career" types who work for at least a few years, often more, before deciding to go to law school.  So bottom line, study what you're interested in in college, and trust that you can always go to law school down the road if that's what you elect to do.  If you feel like you might want to be a lawyer, the most important thing you can do is to keep your GPA up, because right now, law schools are turning out about 1.5 graduates for every full time legal job, and a lot of those "full time legal jobs" are not jobs one would aspire to after spending 4 (expensive) years of undergrad and 3 (expensive) years of law school.  The best legal jobs typically go to graduates of the best law schools, almost all of whom did well in college, typically a highly-ranked college.  Another important thing would be to spend some time with actual lawyers, observing their work.  In addition to gaining practical knowledge, you'll figure out whether the profession is the right one for you.  A lot of people choose to go to law school either out of misguided perceptions of what we actually do on a daily basis, or because they can't figure out what to do after college.  Don't be one of those people.  I attended one of the best law schools in the country at a time when anyone at my school who could walk and chew gum at the same time could snag a $160k/yr job; nearly 10 years out, I would bet that a quarter of my classmates are no longer practicing law, and a fair number more wish they could join those classmates.  I love being a lawyer (most days), but it's not for everyone.  Figure out if it's for you before you sign up for 3 years of loans. The other advice is solid.  I don't think debate is a requirement, but it is useful.  Public speaking is also not a requirement, but even if you don't wind up being a trial lawyer, you're going to have to be able to speak with confidence in potentially hostile situations.  Reading and writing are key, however.  No matter what legal field you enter, you're going to do a lot of both.  If you cannot read quickly and critically, and write convincingly, odds are that you're not going to do very well as a lawyer.

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Study really,really hard. Get the highest marks you can get. The subjects you take aren’t as important as the marks you get ( unless it is obvious you are taking “bird” courses just to increase your GPA). Take courses that inspire your interest.Once you get into university, do the same thing. GPA really matters. You are going to have a lot of competition to get into a tier 1 law school (which you want to do if you want to have a good range of legal career options - and lots of job offers).In terms of what qualities future lawyers display at an early age, I don’t have any solid evidence for you. I’ll make an educated guess though. Strong academic skills, superlative verbal and written skills and a keen ability for critical thinking, especially being able to see an argument from both sides.I hope I have been of some assistance to you :-)

Kathleen Maloney

-Writing -Public Speaking -Debate -Critical Thinking -Critical Reading

Anonymous

Since you ask anonymously, and are talking about law school while you're still in high school, I have no idea whether you're talking about the American legal system, in which you must complete college first, or the system in the many other countries in which you attend law school immediately out of high school.Since I can't give a knowledgeable answer for law schools outside of the United States, I shall presume that you're looking for an American JD degree, because I can address that question.If there are any particular skills that a lawyer exhibits at the high school level, those skills would involve reading, writing, and speaking. These are the three essentials of a lawyer's job.Next, they would involve interest in a very broad range of subjects; in Pennsylvania, there were 80 different volumes of laws, starting with Abatement and ending with Zoning. You don't have to know all of them, but you'd be surprised at how much overlap there is between zoning, public nuisance, landlord and tenant, and real estate, just as an example.So I would expect that insatiable curiosity is one of the best signs of someone who will become a very good lawyer.

Loretta B DeLoggio

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