Attorneys do many different things. The challenge for you is to learn the different things they do and assess how your skill sets line up with possible practice areas. You do not need to know what practice area you might be interested in prior to starting law school, but it helps to be aware of all of the possibilities.
Do you like to read and write and do research? Do you want to help or advocate for a particular population or cause? If so, then law school may be a nice fit. There are four universal skills necessary to be successful in law school and as an attorney:
Reading comprehension
Clear and concise writing
Critical and analytical thinking
Logical reasoning
Three great resources to determine whether law may be right for you include UCAN (University Career Alumni Network), which is useful for shadowing practicing attorneys and conducting informational interviews, the LSA Opportunity Hub for potential internships to explore law, and the “I am the Law” podcasts on Law School Transparency.
Lawyers work in a variety of fields. Lawyers counsel, strategize, solve problems, write, advocate, negotiate, and mediate. Some of the areas they work include, but are not limited to:
Private practice in large, mid-size, and small law firms
In-house counsel for private businesses
Government/Public Service
Public Interest
Judiciary
Academia
Non-traditional
Currently, the practice statistics paint the following picture:
75% of American lawyers are in private practice; of these:
62% work as solo practitioners or in offices of five or fewer lawyers
18% work in offices of between six and 50 lawyers
20% work in firms of more than 50 lawyers
7.5% of the profession work for government agencies
8.5% work for private industries and associations as salaried lawyers or as managers
1% work for legal aid or as public defenders
1% work in legal education
2.5% work in the judiciary
4.4% are retired or inactive
