Working as a lawyer is challenging but full of rewards. Initially the image of a lawyer was that of an individual advocate practicing his profession from a small office or crowded cubicle and a room attached to the court rooms. But with the emerging trend the lawyer’s image has been polished. They now perform solo legal practice to well organized law firms that offer a wide range of legal expertise. The individual lawyers should attach themselves to the legal firms as the corporate clients are more inclined in working with the legal firm than with an individual lawyer. Law career options available to an individual for consideration are:

• Corporate counsel: they advice the companies or the corporate houses regarding the working and the commercial transactions.
• Litigation law firms: these firms offer litigation services to the clients
• Bank officer: this is the best option for the young law graduates as this also pays them well with fixed hours of work.
• Company secretary: a low graduate who has knowledge about the company related matters can join any corporate house as a company secretary.
• Academics: a low graduate can also take up research or make a living by teaching.
• Career in legal writing: a law graduate after completing law can pursue legal writing as a profession.
• Social work: a lawyer can also loin NGO and hence stand for social issues and concerns.

The individuals can also opt for judicial service besides the above mentioned career options. There are different types of fields in which the lawyers can specialize. These are:

• Corporate law
• Comparative law
• Environmental law
• Patent law
• Poverty law and legal service
• Tax law
• Criminal law

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The employment opportunities for the lawyers are expected to grow 13% by the year 2018 in this decade. With growth in population and in the level of business activity, there are numerous legal transactions, civil and criminal disputes. People have become more aware   about their rights and hence new acts have been made. All this increasingly demands an individual who promotes justice and carry legal proceedings for the same. An amazing fact is that the self employed lawyers’ percentage is 26%, either in solo practice or as partners in law firms. Competition for job openings is at peak.

Without deliberation no service is attainable. Every profession demands monetary compensation in return of the service. The annual median salary wages of the lawyers were $110,590.

The earnings of the lawyers with respect to the industry where they are working:

1. The Management of Companies and Enterprises pays them $145,770, whereas the industry of Federal Executive Branch pays them $126,080. The industry of Legal Service compensates them with the amount of $116,550 and the Local Government pays them $82,590.
2. Salaries of experienced advocates vary with their type, size, location and experience. Lawyers who are much committed in the profession as a lawyer earn lesser compared to who work as partners in the law firm. After graduation the median salary of the lawyers in the year 2010 was as follows.

Graduates earned $68,500, the Private Practice lawyers earned $108,500, the Businesses were compensated with $69,100 and the Academic and Judicial Clerkship earned $48,000. Also know about paralegal salary with www.Justparalegalcertionfications.com/paralegal-salary/ website.

1. The national survey done in United States of America shows the following details about the salary and the additional benefits that the lawyers are entitled to:

• Average salary ranges: $45,055 to $147,367.
• Bonus ranges: $989 to $25,663.
• Profit sharing ranges: $1,468 to $36,265.
• Commission ranges: $970 to $33,330.

4. The salary is also discriminated on the basis of gender:

• 40% of females get a salary of $51,867 to $96,003.
• 60% of males get a salary of $58,370 to $110,680.

5.  The salary also varies with respect to the experience that they possess:

Lawyers with 0-1years experience earn $46,000 to $70,000
Lawyers with 1-4 years experience earn $50,860 to $81,200
Lawyers having an experience of 5-9 years earn $68,900 to $115,450
Professionals having an experience of 10-19 years earn $79,980 to $145,420

6.  Based on the field of specialization they are entitled to:

Criminal lawyers get $47,780 to $79,070
Family lawyers get $48,390 to $79,680
Legal Research lawyers get $53,340 to $99,900
Real Estate Lawyers get $53,250 to $100,980
Litigation and appeal Lawyers earn $60,870 to $110,320 and
Corporate Lawyers get $87,450 to $181,520.

7.  Considering the type of employer who hires them,

If working as a team they are paid: $37,000-$110,670
If involved in private practice they earn: $56,900-$104,880
If self employed they shall be given: $57,710-$124,620
the government pays them: $69,100-$115,190

8.  Considering the location of work geographically the salary bar ranges:

In Florida the lawyers earn: $52,564-$95,845
In New Jersey the lawyers earn: $58,891-$113,725
In Texas they are paid: $59,669-$117,459
In New York they earn: $59,667-$119,282
In California they earn $69,432-$122,890

The lawyer is commonly perceived as an individual who goes to the court and stands before the judge or the jury defending his client. Each and every type of lawyer has a set of roles and responsibilities to discharge. The role of lawyer is not confined to the courtrooms only; it extends beyond the social, economic and political as mentioned in the preamble of the constitution. The role played by the lawyers is:

• To preserve the honors and dignity of the profession at all times as exceptional agents of the administration of justice.
• Uphold the human rights and fundamental freedoms while protecting the rights of their clients.
• Loyally respect the interest of their clients.
• Representative of clients, officer of the legal system and a public citizen responsible for promoting the quality of justice.
• Respect the freedom and independence in his/her duties.
• Strive to maintain and develop the self governing system.
• Respect truth, be faithful and discharge all his duties without any default.

Normally a lawyer is permitted to carry out the responsibilities listed below: A  paralegal job description will be similar to the lawyer job. A paralegal doesn’t do official in the court premises except this, Paralegal duties are more similar to the Lawyer

• He conducts oral argument before the judge or jury in the court, on behalf of the client.
• They brief out the case in writing mentioning the salient points so that it is easy to orally argue over the issues in the court before the judge or the jury.
• Perform extensive research into the relevant facts.
• Draft the necessary legal papers which shall be required for the legal proceedings and oral arguments.
• Develop and manage relationship with the clients. The lawyer here needs to know the client in person, analyze the facts of the case, asks what the client desires to achieve, provides proper guidance to give a shape to the expectations of the client
• After considering the concrete facts of the client’s case, he provides remedy in terms of legal advice to the client. It is required that the client should seek guidance from a properly licensed lawyer.
• In order to provide maximum protection to the intellectual property under the law, the lawyer must protect the intellectual property (patents, trade marks, industrial designs etc) and get these registered with a government agency.
• The lawyer is responsible to negotiate and draft the contract.
• He is responsible to convey and draft the documents required for the transfer of the real property.
• The lawyers are the ones who are accountable for drafting the wills, deeds and any other document so as to guarantee the appropriate disposition of the person’s belongings after death.

Lawyer is an individual, practicing law, trained under the legal system for providing protection to an individual, business concern or an idea by interpreting the words and actions. No other profession other than lawyers has much variation in titles and hence forth lawyers may be referred as

• Attorney,
• Advocate,
• Counsel,
• Solicitor,
• Barrister,
• Public prosecutor,
• Legal representative and
• Notary.

All these titles are interchangeably used in the field of law. As an attorney, they research the intent of laws and judicial decisions and apply the same to special circumstances that their client is facing. The advocates represent their client in the civil or criminal court, present different evidences and argue to support their client. As counselors they suggest their clients’ particular courses of action for matters related to business and personal life. A solicitor, speaks with the clients, prepares their case and then appears in the lower court as an advocate. A barrister usually performs trial work, mainly in the high courts and does not directly deal with the clients. Lawyers mostly work in their offices, law libraries and courtrooms. They may also visit the client at their homes, business places or prison wherever it is necessary. Their main task includes preparing a case, gathering sufficient evidences, presenting them before the court and speaking on behalf of their clients.

The education of lawyer is never ending as the government frequently makes amendments to the constitution and the lawyer needs to keep himself abreast of the information. Preparing a case involves proper understanding of the latest laws and judicial decisions. No one lawyer can handle every aspect of the client’s case. For this reason, these days we have lawyers specializing in their field. Lawyers are frequently using the advanced technology to perform more efficiently. They make the use of internet, legal database and law libraries to identify legal text and index material. Lawyers must be easily accessible, so that their clients can reach them in times of need. Lawyers work for large firms or they practice privately. They work for irregular hours, including weekends and conduct research work, discussions with the clients and thus preparing briefs. They work for long hours spending their day and night preparing the case for their clients.

With the increasing demand, every profession needs some hard and some soft skills. Hard skills are the technical skills that one might gain through the education and technical training where as the soft skills are your personal attributes that are required to complement the hard skills.

The skills required by an individual aspiring to peruse his/her career in law are:

• Language being the fundamental tool of the legal profession, the lawyer needs to encompass oratory skills.
• Writing skills for writing correspondence to drafting complex legal documents.
• Serving the clients honestly.
• Logical reasoning and analytical skills including problem solving capability.
• Researching capabilities and then analyze the research.
• Master the recent technology and communication skills and technological affinity.
• He must possess the knowledge of substantive law and legal proceedings.
• He must have time management capabilities and support multi tasking skills along with calendar management skills.
• The lawyer needs to be a proper organizer as he needs to manage large volume of data, evidences and documents.
• They need to have the team management skills and work in a team as they can not work in vacuum.

Besides all these traits the lawyer needs to posses the persuading skills, observing things, good understanding of the law, be patient, good memory and recollection power and confidence. He must have the ability to work under pressure to strict deadlines. He needs to posses the emotional intelligence, financial literacy and collaboration skills.

How long does it take to become a lawyer? The education of a lawyer is never ending. Becoming a lawyer is an intensive process. He needs to keep himself updated with the latest amendments made by the government, if he wishes to provide proper guidance to his clients. If an individual aspires to become a lawyer he needs to have

• A bachelor degree of 4 years,
• 3 years of law school for a Juries’ Doctor degree
• Pass the bar examination for every state in which you practice
• Pass an ethics examination.

Admission to a law school has become really competitive. Students who wish to attend the law school must first take the LAW SCHOOL ADMISSION TEST (LSAT).  During their education they need to master in contracts, constitutional law, torts, civil procedure, property law, tax labor, legal writing, or corporate law. After graduation the lawyers should keep themselves well-versed about the legal and non legal changes that influence their practices.