The Pros & Cons of Choosing a Career in Law | Guide for Law Students

Summary

Choosing a legal career can be a daunting prospect for students. With so many options available, it can be difficult to make a decision that feels right. This article provides advice and guidance on the different types of legal roles available, and how to make the right decision for you.


The legal profession covers a diverse range of specialisms and roles, ranging from private practice to corporate. Deciding which path to take is a matter of personal choice, but there are some key considerations. Firstly, consider what type of law you'd like to practice. This can range from personal injury to family law, or from real estate to tax law. Secondly, consider the type of environment you'd like to work in, whether it be a large firm or a small firm.

If you're interested in private practice, it's important to consider the costs associated with setting up your own practice. Legal education and training can be costly and you'll need to decide whether it's worth the investment. Furthermore, you'll need to factor in the cost of business expenses such as renting office space, marketing and advertising costs, and staff wages.

If your focus is on working in corporate or government law, the cost of legal education and training can be much lower. It's also important to consider the type of work environment that best suits you, as well as the location. Corporate law firms tend to offer more job security and better pay, while government positions may offer access to more interesting cases and greater job satisfaction.

Ultimately, the choice of legal career will come down to your ambitions, interests, evaluation of cost-benefit analysis, and personal preferences. As you make your decision, it's important to take the time to compare your options, research the market, and weigh up the pros and cons. While no two decisions will be the same, it's important to make sure your decision is the right one for you.

When considering a legal career, it is important to research the different roles available and evaluate the cost of legal education and training. Explore the type of law that interests you, from personal injury to tax, and weigh up the various options to determine which type of legal role best suits your interests, ambitions, and financial commitments. Consider the work environment you would prefer, from large corporate firms to small firms, and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of each. Finally, make sure the decision you choose is right for you, as this is ultimately the most important factor.
 

Choices in Life

We often underestimate the power of choice in our lives. It is our choices that define us, frame us, and guide us in the direction we want our lives to take us. Choices are a fundamental part of our everyday existence, and the decisions we make have a profound impact. Whether you are deciding on a career, a job, a home, or what you will eat for dinner, the choices you make will profoundly shape your life.
 

Evaluating Options

When evaluating options, it is important to consider the pros and cons of each. This allows us to make informed decisions, based on what we believe is best for us. Weighing the consequences of a decision can help us to make better choices, and avoid making decisions based solely on emotion.
 

Focusing on Dreams and Goals

When making decisions, it is important to keep your dreams and goals in mind. It is often easy to get sidetracked, but when your goals and dreams are the focus, it becomes easier to stay on the right track. Choosing a job, career, or even a place to live should be based on what is going to help you reach those goals.
 

Staying Flexible

Life changes quickly and often unexpectedly. As you move through life, you should remain flexible, and be ready to adapt if needed. Unexpected opportunities often arise, and being prepared to take advantage of them is key. Being open to change can help you find the right course for your life.
 

Making the Right Choice

Making the right choices for your life can be difficult, but an important part of self-improvement and growth. Taking the time to evaluate the pros and cons of each situation, focus on your dreams and goals, and stay flexible can help ensure that you make the best decisions for yourself and your future. Don't underestimate the power of choice - it is vital for your long-term wellbeing.

Few women in their 20s and 30s appreciate what life was like for women before the milestone 1973 Roe v Wade case. Pregnant women were fired from their jobs if they did not resign. Women could not get credit cards without their husband's signatures - even if the woman was the breadwinner. In some high schools, running full court during a basketball game was considered "too strenuous" for women, who were told to pass the ball after two dribbles and slowly make their way to the basket.

In A Question of Choice, Sarah Weddington documents those frustrations she experienced as a young woman in Texas and her determination to fight for equal rights. She takes us behind the scenes of Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case she argued and won at 27- her first contested case - to provide reproductive rights for women across the country.

Although A Question of Choice was first published in 1992, Weddington and women's groups have been aggressively promoting the book in the run-up to the November presidential elections, which some fear could result in a more anti-choice Supreme Court and the overturning of Roe if Bush is reelected.

A Question of Choice spans the build-up and preparation for Roe v Wade - endless research and moot courts based on the "right of privacy" defense - through to erosion of the rights Roe protected. It tells the remarkable story of how Weddington won the Supreme Court battle with the help of her husband and a motley group of activists, doctors, nurses and religious leaders.

No matter which side of the contentious debate you are on, A Question of Choice is a fascinating story about the legal battle over abortion and of the men and women who worked on the case - all for free.

Weddington and her now ex-husband Ron, lived a bohemian lifestyle while preparing for Roe, at one point leaving their home in Texas to sleep on the floor of the offices of the Constitutional Law Institute in New York where they prepared their Supreme Court brief.

Roe started because some of Weddington's friends ran an abortion referral service in Austin and were worried that they could be prosecuted for helping women find doctors willing to perform abortions, which were illegal in Texas. So 25-year-old Weddington began researching - could her friends be held accountable? She couldn't find the answer, but as her research progressed, so did interest in her work. The women running the referral service, frustrated with their inability to win rights through the "old boys" Texas legislature and worried that they could be prosecuted, decided to try the case before the federal courts.

Weddington is an accomplished writer and deftly weaves intricacies of the lawsuit with harrowing accounts of her personal life and the stories of desperate women who braved back-alley clinics for abortions. Some of the women bled to death from botched procedures. Others were deformed. Shortly before they were married, Ron and Sarah Weddington traveled to Mexico for an abortion - an experience that haunted the lawyer and inspired her to fight so other women would not have to face the fear of an illegal operation.

People increasingly became interested in Weddington's lawsuit and many stopped by her office at the University of Texas law school in "Boy's Town," where the young professors had their offices. All of the professors were male, hence the name. She writes that she was chosen to argue Roe because the group wanted a female lawyer and Weddington was the only one they knew.

"I eventually warmed to the lawsuit idea, but I thought I was an unlikely person - and not the right person - to tackle it," she writes. "In the end, however, it seemed I was the best free legal help available, and there were reasons I was inclined to accept the challenge. In private, Ron and I discussed the possibility of helping others avoid what we had gone through and preventing any more of the sorts of horror stories we had heard from project volunteers."

Weddington and her supporters were particularly heartened by Griswold v Connecticut, the 1965 Supreme Court case which challenged a Connecticut law which made birth control illegal. Estelle Griswold, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Connecticut, had been arrested after giving contraceptives to a married couple. She was fined $100, appealed and won before the Supreme Court. The law was declared unconstitutional and the court's opinion focused on the "right of privacy" as being upheld by the Constitution. Weddington relied heavily on that opinion in her oral arguments to the Supreme Court.

A Question of Choice also documents Weddington's many other accomplishments: namely, her election at 26 to the Texas legislature and her work in Washington recruiting women for leadership positions under President Jimmy Carter. First and foremost, A Question of Choice is the story of a brave and remarkable woman.

Weddington's elation over her victory in assuring women's access to legal abortions was short-lived and she writes despairingly about the restrictions states have since imposed on Roe, conditions for abortions, such as parental or in some cases spousal approval, trimester viability of the fetus rules, limited federal funding for services, and the well-organized, occasionally violent pro-life activists' attempts to overturn Roe.

Despite its age, A Question of Choice is relevant today for anyone interested in the milestone case and the characters behind it. The book includes a plea and specific directions for people to get involved in the pro-choice movement, which Weddington says has become complacent compared to the highly organized pro-life movement.