Jobs For Attorney: How To Position Yourself For Success

Job description of an attorney

The role that attorneys jobs play are as diverse as the range of clients that they deal with and the different circumstances that require their services. Attorneys will assist clients with the preparation of transactional documents such as contracts, leases, wills and prenuptial agreements. It is the job of an attorney to help his or her client to understand a contract or any other legal document in layman's terms such that they can also provide informed input on what they think is best for them. It is not unusual to find attorneys jobs that are heavily engaged in the actual step by step negotiation of complex business deal. These types of attorneys are sometimes referred to as corporate or transactional attorneys.


The other main type of jobs for attorney is the litigation attorney. These are the attorneys that most people will first think of when they think of lawyers. They are mostly based in court rooms and will represent their clients in court cases whether criminal or civil. It is the job of holders of litigation attorney jobs to prepare and present evidence to the court on behalf of their clients. The attorney will be expected to research, interview witnesses, collect the facts of the case and after briefing their client and obtaining consent, present the their case. This process of collecting and reviewing the various facts of the court case can be very demanding since the attorney is not working in a vacuum; he or she not only needs to make the best case for their client but they need to make sure that their delivery is more convincing and has a stronger footing in law than the argument advanced by the prosecutor or the attorney of their client's accuser.

Another way to look at attorney jobs is general practitioners and specialized attorneys. An attorney can pick a particular field of law and specialize. Examples of such niche fields include criminal law, intellectual property law, IT law, family law, international contracting, business law, bankruptcy law, medical law, employment law etcetera. Focusing in one area has a benefits for the attorney as they quickly start to be recognized as an authority in that field thus attracting more clients and hire remuneration. There are entire law firms that only deal with one niche of law and if you are interested in specializing, your goal should be to land a job with such a firm and sharpen your knowledge and skills on the job.

How to become an attorney

To become an attorney, you will need to first enroll for and complete an undergraduate degree. Even though many types of degree courses are accepted when one is applying for law school, it is better that one goes for an arts coarse or in a course that entails a lot of reading, research, analysis of facts and memorizing of information. Examples of such courses include history, political science, literature, linguistics, English, and communication. Alternatively, if you have already identified the particular niche of law you would like to specialize in, you can go ahead and enroll for an undergraduate degree that complements that area.

For instance, you could go for an IT undergraduate course if you intend to become an IT lawyer. You could go for an engineering or creative arts major if you hope to become an intellectual property lawyer in due course. Going straight to law school after your undergraduate degree is not mandatory. If you have not yet made up your mind to become a lawyer or just want to shore up your experience, you can always work for one or two years in the career that your undergraduate degree leans toward.

Once you have an undergraduate degree, you can then identify and apply for law school through the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). Once you are through with law school, you must sit for a bar exam before you can be allowed to practice.

Find attorney jobs

You can get attorney jobs through a number of ways but the internet is proving to be the best source of good jobs for attorney with LawCrossing.com being the premiere site for lawyers' jobs. If you are looking for a job as an attorney, LawCrossing.com is the must see website.