Career Path to the Top

I've learned that there's a lot you have to do to become an attorney. First of all, you have to have a high school diploma, a four-year college degree, and a three-year Juris Doctorate from law school. Besides this, practice within the legal profession as an associate is highly recommended by my supervisor.

When I went to interview Matt Pavone for a class assignment, I asked what is the typical career path for lawyers, and he replied, "There are within the legal profession a wide variety of things you can do with a law degree, so there's no typical career path once you become a lawyer." What this has taught me is that there are so many options to choose from when deciding which branch of law to go into. Some law students don't even practice law, but just worked for the degree to think and approach problems in a specific way, like an attorney does.

I've also learned that the five most important skills for being a

lawyer are: critical reading, critical writing, organization, good people skills, and depending on what kind of lawyer you want to be, critical speaking. Critical reading is important to be able to break down what you read and try to establish a viewpoint, "...to be able to deconstruct it and figure out what the argument is made up of and what its weaknesses and strengths are, whether it's fully supported by its evidence..." (Matt Pavone). As a matter of fact, it's similar to a persuasive essay, which is my favorite type of essay, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to like doing this. Critical writing is important for basically the same reason, except instead of breaking down someone else's writing, you're writing your own and presenting it in a persuasive way so you will win the case. Organization is a key skill to have when in the legal profession. Mental organization is very important when it comes to critical reading and writing because of "...your ability to take a mass of information and to separate what's not relevant from what is relevant and organize it into a way that is persuasive..." (Matt Pavone). Besides critical thinking and critical writing, critical speaking is very important (depending on what branch of law you're in) because you have to be able to prepare your argument in your head and be ready for any kind of rebuttal, like in a debate competition. It's an important skill because public speaking is referred as "...next to death, people fear public speaking more than anything else in the world" (Matt Pavone). Good people skills are also important because you have to know how to deal with others, whether it be clients, judges, court reporters, employees, etc. These skills let lawyers get their jobs done effectively and efficiently.

The way to get to the top, since there isn't a distinct career path, is to live life, explore, and learn new things. When interviewing Matt, he told me this and said that a famous lawyer he wrote to when he started to be interested in law told him the same thing. The great fact about being an attorney is that no two cases are going to be the same, in most cases. There will be some different, new aspects that will need researching to fully understand, so the trick it to just get out there and keep your eyes open.

How you earn your position in the “big-leagues” is up to you and your experiences. If you persevere and work hard, while also looking for new opportunities that come your way to learn, you’ll make it in a heartbeat. I think this is the most common career path to the top of a legal profession.