What do you have to do to become a defense attorney?

What can a 12 year old boy do to become a defense attorney?

• Answer:

  Pay attention in social studies class and pay attention to the news. These two things will begin to lay the foundations you'll need to better understand the way the law works, how laws are made, and how the political system effects the law. You can offer to volunteer at a local law office as well, simply being around real lawyers will help you understand how they talk, how they act, and will give you real experience in the field. Even if you're just sweeping up, making copies, or addressing envelopes, you'll learn a ton just from watching the processes of the law office and even from just hearing how lawyers, legal secretaries, and potential clients talk to each other. Once you're a little older you'll be in high school and once you've taken your SAT and/or ACT, you'll want to look into colleges and a college major that best suits the type of law you want to go into, if you think you want to be a criminal defense attorney, I personally would recommend majors like criminology, sociology, or political science (I did all three and what I learned helped a lot during my criminal law coursework in law school.). If you're thinking about doing civil defense work, college majors like business, finance, accounting, physics, and pre-med, all seem to have benefited friends of mine who pursued civil law. Pick a college that is strong in your major, look to national college surveys and studies for the departments reputation, and look at who the professors are (some of my Political Science professors worked as advisers to the White House and taught as well- that's a pretty big deal...) and what they teach on or about (if you hate Middle Eastern politics, don't take classes with the guy who's published 1000 articles on the Iran-Iraq conflict because I guarantee that's all you'll talk about in class...). While your in college you can join pre-law clubs, pre-law programs, and mock trial teams (they compete against each other with fake cases in courtroom-like situations and debates). In 3-5 years you'll be in your final year of college you'll take the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test), once your scores are back you'll have a wide range of law schools to choose from. Pick a law school like you picked your college, look for a school that's strong in what you want to do... Once you graduate college, you'll be off for three years of law school. The first year is tough, but with all the prep you've done interning, studying the law, and carefully picking your college major you'll be just fine! During law school you can participate on the moot court team (just like mock trial in college, but a lot tougher) and you can participate in clinic work, during clinic you get to help real clients with court cases under the direct supervision of a license attorney. and good luck!