Becoming a lawyer requires a substantial amount of schooling, including an undergraduate degree, law school, and passing the bar exam. Choosing a specialty and securing funding are also important steps in the process.
The process to become a lawyer is often a difficult and arduous task that includes a substantial amount of schooling and requires the student’s full commitment. While it’s not necessary to start preparing to become a lawyer in high school, if that’s the path you’ve chosen, this would be the best place to start. Excellence in high school helps gain acceptance into top colleges.
Graduation is the first step in the process. To be a lawyer, the best path to choose for the graduation course is the one that allows you to have a good education in the area of law you are choosing. For example, corporate lawyers might start with a business degree. Constitutional lawyers may find that a history degree is the best strategy. Many schools also offer pre-law degrees, which provide a more general foundation in preparing for law school.
Once an undergraduate degree is earned, or even before it is earned, students must take the LSAT to be accepted into law school. This test is a substantial hurdle for anyone wanting to become a lawyer. There are five sections, each lasting 35 minutes. The test is scored on a scale ranging from 120 to 180.
These results, along with a written sample, are sent to potential law schools you apply to. These law schools determine whether you meet their acceptance standards. Generally, these standards remain fairly consistent, although they may change slightly from year to year depending on the strength of the applicant pool.
The expenses involved can also pose an obstacle for anyone wanting to become a lawyer. After spending four years in college and taking the LSAT, there are still three years of schooling left before receiving a law degree. Sometimes funding can be an issue. Therefore, it is important for students to review all of their funding source options. While scholarships and grants are good, work-study, scholarships, and loans may also be needed.
Once in law school, it may be necessary to choose a specialty. Some students focus on criminal law, while others may focus on corporate law or any of a number of other specialties. Still, during the first year, classes will be uniform for most students, so you’ll have some time to think about this.
After successfully fulfilling the law school requirements, you will be awarded the Juris Doctor Law degree. This means that you have almost completed all the necessary steps to become a lawyer. While this achievement is great, it still doesn’t mean you’re a lawyer. There is one more step in the process.
The last step, in many cases, is to take the bar exam. The bar exam is administered by the bar association in each state. To get to the point, states require a certain set of criteria to be met. After passing the bar exam, the student became a lawyer. However, upon passing the bar, some states may require a multi-state professional responsibility exam. This is an ethics test designed to ensure that the highest ethical standards are met for those who become lawyers.
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