Lawyer
Lawyer
Career Overview
Lawyers advise and represent people, businesses, and organizations on legal matters. They research laws, prepare legal documents, negotiate agreements, and represent clients in disputes, hearings, and court proceedings.
Salary Note: Lawyer salaries can increase significantly with experience, specialization, reputation, and success in high-value cases.
Education
A university degree followed by a law degree, such as a JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence) or LLB (Bachelor of Laws), is typically required. Graduates must also complete the licensing requirements for the jurisdiction where they plan to practise. Strong research, writing, communication, and critical-thinking skills are important.
Work Environment
Lawyers work in law firms, businesses, government, courts, nonprofit organizations, and as independent practitioners. Much of the work involves research, writing, meetings, and technology, with some lawyers spending significant time in court or working with clients.
Future Outlook
Lawyers will continue to be needed as people, businesses, and organizations navigate changing laws, regulations, technology, and disputes. AI and legal technology are increasingly helping with research, document review, and routine tasks, while lawyers continue to provide the judgment, strategy, communication, and advocacy that clients need. Current projections show steady demand, with many openings also expected as experienced lawyers retire or move into other careers.
Recommended High School Courses
- Computer Science
- Business
- History
- English
- Mathematics
- Civics
- Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
- Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Identify implications for cases from legal precedents or other legal information.
- Provide legal advice to clients.
- Represent the interests of clients in legal proceedings.
- Interview claimants to get information related to legal proceedings.
- Meet with individuals involved in legal processes to provide information and clarify issues.
- Research relevant legal materials to aid decision making.
- Prepare legal documents.
- Arbitrate disputes between parties to resolve legal conflicts.
- Supervise activities of other legal personnel.
- Prepare documentation of legal proceedings.
- Evaluate information related to legal matters in public or personal records.
- Draft legislation or regulations.
Schools
Abraham Lincoln Universit...
Barry University
Belmont University
Boston University
Creighton University
Cuny John Jay College Of...
Drexel University
Duke University
Duquesne University
Florida International Uni...
Georgetown University
Hamline University
Harvard University
Marquette University
Mercer University
New York University
Northern Illinois Univers...
Northwestern University-...
Nova Southeastern Univers...
Ohio Northern University
Pennsylvania State Univer...
Pepperdine University
Quinnipiac University
Regent University
Samford University
Santa Clara University
Stetson University
United States Military Ac...
University Of Arkansas- F...
University Of California-...
University Of California-...
University Of Chicago
University Of Dayton
University Of Denver
University Of Detroit Mer...
University Of Maryland -...
University Of Pennsylvani...
University Of Richmond
University Of San Diego
University Of San Francis...
University Of Southern Ca...
University Of Southern Ma...
University Of Texas- Aust...
University Of Virginia
Vanderbilt University
Villanova University
Washington University- St...
Western New England Unive...
Willamette University
Yale University
Yeshiva University
Algoma University- Sau...
Dalhousie University
Lakehead University- O...
Mcgill University
Queen's University- Ki...
Universite De Montreal...
University Of British...
University Of Moncton
University Of Quebec-...
University Of Windsor-...
York University- Keele...
York University- Glendon...
Potential Scholarships
Td Scholarships For Commu...
Horatio Alger Canadian Un...
Terry Fox Humanitarian Aw...
Indspire Building Brighte...
Russell Alexander Law Sch...
Approx Salary Expectation
Low End:
$79,000.00 /yr
Avg/Med:
$186,000.00 /yr
High End:
$250,000.00 /yr
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.