One of the most daunting services is the delivery of legal services. It takes plenty of acquired skillsets to render quality service in law. So, here’s to the top careers that are marketable in law.
As long as there is a continuous quest for lawyers and the services they offer, there is a lot to what they can do than just bearing the title. While some of the marketable careers in law require an in-depth gathering of facts, others may just end at being a defendant.
However, for expertise’s sake, several concentrations abound that students should place their focus on. Such are: corporate law, ICT law, criminal law, tax law, etc. Keep reading to catch a glimpse.
Kindly go through the table of contents below for an overview.
Table of contents
Who is a Lawyer?
Basically, we can’t talk about who a lawyer is without describing what the term ‘LAW’ implies. Wiki, however, says law is a system of rules created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behaviour.
Then, a lawyer is one who has the necessary qualifications to render legal advice or even stand as a representative in the court of law.
To be able to carry out the aforementioned roles and more, the lawyer must go through special educational training to know what is involved in becoming an attorney.
How Much do Lawyers Earn?
According to the US BLS, the median annual wage for lawyers is $81,820. That is, lawyers earn $58.13 per hour.
However, from Glassdoor’s report, the national average salary for a Lawyer is $117,567 in the United States.
Payscale reports that Lawyers earn an average salary of $83,672.
Law Career Outlook
From the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of lawyers is expected to grow by 5 percent from 2019 to 2029, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
Competition for jobs over the next 10 years is expected to be strong because more students graduate from law school each year than there are jobs available.
Career Guide to becoming a Lawyer
Here are steps to building a successful career in law.
Obtain a Bachelor’s Degree
This is about the basic prerequisite to launching a career in law and can be obtained from any of the accredited institutions.
It takes about 4 years of full-time study to get the bachelor’s degree.
- Obtain a bachelor’s degree
- Get a Master of Laws (LL.M)
- Sit for the Law School Admission Test
- Attend law school
- Obtain a Juris Doctor
- Sit and pass your Bar Examination
- Apply to become a practicing lawyer
Get a Master of Laws (LL.M)
This is a post-law degree and takes about 1 year to complete. This is especially for those who have the intention of building a reputable career for themselves in law.
Sit for the Law School Admission Test
To attend a law school, this is an important test you must complete. This test evaluates your ability in the following areas.
- Reading Comprehension
- Information Management
- Critical thinking and analysis
- Reasoning
- Argumentation
Attend Law School
To be a practicing lawyer in the US, you must fulfill this requirement by attending any of the accredited law schools. Although many law school admission requirements vary, we have listed the basic ones.
- Overall GPA
- LSAT score
- Recommendation letters
Obtain a Juris Doctor
This is where you have to choose your focus and hone your skill in that particular area of interest.
It takes about three years of full-time study to complete this program.
Sit and Pass your Bar Examination
This stage is not a five-finger exercise, I tell you. To be fully certified, you must sit for the bar examination and most importantly, pass it.
Basically, it is usually a two-day exercise where you are required to complete a Multistate Bar Examination on the first day and on the second day, you write an exam with a focus on several legal matters.
It is at this stage that your character, educational background, and other things about you relating to law are evaluated.
Apply to Become a Practising Lawyer
As a step forward into your career, you can either choose to start out as an associate to gain more experience after which you may become a partner or even own a law firm.
Also, you can also grow into becoming a judge or holding offices.
Marketable Careers in Law
To successfully find your way around the complications surrounding the legal waters, you must indeed, be a pro. Therefore, law is a remarkable profession that is spurring, though complex, but very lucrative.
There are several marketable careers in law but you must first take note of what is demand at a particular time and what is most gainful. These thoughts will in no small measure, take you through the right path.
Take a look at the best 10 marketable careers in law.
READ ALSO: How can I become a Tax Lawyer? Career, Cost, Programs, and Salary
#1 Trial Lawyer
This is among the highest paying careers in the legal world. The basic job role for this personnel is to constantly represent someone in a lawsuit and argue the client’s case.
A trial lawyer also presents a closing argument and waits for the judge’s ruling.
Required education: Juris Doctor and the average salary for a trial lawyer in 2021 is $99,000
#2 Tax Attorney
To settle tax-related problems and undo property liens, you must either choose to work with individuals or businesses. Though not as promising as a trial lawyer, you can still rake in good cash
The average salary of a tax attorney is $99,000 – $120,910.
#3 Real Estate Attorney
This career in law basically involves the preparation and review of documents associated with the buying and selling of a property. Also, you ensure that buyers get fair deals.
Average salary for a real estate attorney is between $74,000 to $118,000.
#4 Judge
As a judge, you prseide over court proceedings at the federal, high, and magistrate courts. While the high and magistatrate court judges earn lesser, the judge in the federal court system earns higher.
The average annual salary ranges from $66,000 to $136,910.
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#5 Corporate Lawyer
A corporate lawyer structures transactions, negotiates deals and sees that the provisions of an agreement are clear and adhered to.
You can assist start-ups to kick off with its foremost paperwork. The average salary for a corporate lawyer is $111,004
#6 Law School Professor
Depending on your area of interest, you can teach some courses in law, carry out research, or write scholarly works. Salary may indirectly be decided by region and school but the average salary is $84,000.
It might be difficult securing a space as a law school professor but it is a career worth venturing into.
#7 Litigation Support Director
This person is duly in-charge of designing, enforcing and maintenance of litigation databases. You can also train users on the usage of database and document management.
The average salary is $80,192 annually.
#8 Law Firm Administrator
Here, you oversee the business and administrative aspects of running a law firm covering the finacial managent area, business development, marketing areas.
You typically work for lesser hours and acquiring only a bachelor’s degree is fine. You may be earning an average salary of $72,636 annually.
#9 Criminal Lawyer
A criminal lawyer represents one who is facing a criminal charge. The job role include bail bond hearings, plea, bargains, post- conviction appeals and revocation hearings.
Although you don’t make the most money, it is one rewarding career in the legal system. However, the average salary is $78,500.
#10 Intellectual Property Lawyer
You profer legal solutions on how best your clients can protect their patent rights, and handle issues such as licensing, technology transfer and trade secret projects.
Your salary as an intellectual property lawyer ranges from $65,000 to $100,000.
Top Law Schools I can Attend
Building a succesful career involves acquiring the required certificates from reputable institutions. So, here are the best law schools you can attend in 2021 accoring to the US News rankings of the top law schools.
The ranking factors are: cost of tuition, school size and test scores.
- Yale University
- Stanford University
- Harvard University
- Columbia University
- University of Chicago
- New York University
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Virginia
- Northwestern University
- University of California
- University of Michigan
- Duke University
- Cornell University
- Georgetown University
- University of Texas
- Washington University
- University of Southern California
- Vanderbilt University
- Boston University
- University of Minnesota
Frequently Asked Questions
A good LSAT score is solely determined by the law school you choose to attend. However, the average LSAT score is 150.
If you intend to get into one of the top law schools, go alittle above the former and maybe up to 162.
The average GPA for a law school is 3.4.
Quality education is something you can compromise. Therefore, you can choose any of these law schools to acquire a top-notch education that will help you in your career.
Yale University
Stanford University
Harvard University
Columbia University
University of Chicago
New York University
University of Pennsylvania
University of Virginia
Northwestern University
University of California
Conclusion
While salary is a major consideration to look out for in a marketable career, the major spur should be your passion. On that note, we have listed out the marketable careers in law as well as provide you with a career guide.
I hope this helps!