Attorney is basically a service officer that provides the legal advises to their clients and protects their client in front of judges and protects his rights by giving suitable and authentic evidences. Attorneys are well educated personalities and they have to get the educational degree in Law and they are also known as lawyer or legal advisor. There are around 793 thousands attorneys working in different departments, according to the report of U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1)

Key duties and responsibilities of attorney:

The role and key functions that an attorney does in the social circle are so many under different scope of their studies and experience under different law fields while practising as attorneys. Some of the major duties are as follows:

  • When the clients are facing some legal issues in their lives, they will be the first person that could help them in their critical time and give them crucial legal advises and help to get rid of the problem by knowing the facts and ongoing allegations.
  • They will study the complete case of the client and make report after analyzing the evidence in cases such as police reports, accidents, and murders etc. After collecting valuable data, they defend their client case in the court.
  • Deals in preparing the documents for legal advisory such as home property papers, contracts between two parties etc.

There are so many fields of interest for specialized studies for the attorneys under which they practice and equip themselves for serving the community. The fields include Criminal Law, Real Estate, Corporate issues, estate and probate matters, intellectual property right issues, matrimonial and family legal advisory or environmental law studies.

Attorney salary:

The salary of the attorney depends on the position and amount of experience they have in their belts, also depends on whether they are solo practitioners or legal advisor for some company. Self-employed attorneys usually gain less earnings per year.

  • Median Salary of Attorney per year around $120,910.
  • Annual top 10% salary getters attorneys around $208,000.
  • Bottom or junior 10% attorneys will earn only $58,220 per year.

Education and training and Certification Requirement (2):

The degree or certificate of attorneys generally takes 6-7 year of complete study and practicing of law some of the education description is given below:

Education: After getting the degree of bachelor’s in law, the attorney must undergo for the doctorate degree from law school, certified by the American Bar Association in order to get the proper licensing of attorney for the practice and job in this field.

Testing: the attorneys before applying for the degree must go through the attorney entry exam that indicates the abilities and qualities of a candidate whether he/she is suitable for law or not, under the invigilation of Law School Admission Test (LSAT).

Apprenticeships and Volunteer work: While taking the theoretical studies the law student must undergo the law practice and must attend the session court and observe the hearings at court in front of judge. They have to pay attention to the quality of arguments so that they will be well equipped about the law practices.

Admittance to the bar: After the completion of degree and practice in law, the attorney before entering in the practical life for job and practice at courts must give the ethical exam taken by the bar council in which the personal card for the court admission for practicing will be issued after passing the exam.

Attorney skills and Competencies:

Although the attorney has the qualities to be a competent individual but he/she must have the interpersonal skills in order to meet the modern day field competition to be the best in all forms. So for that requirement, attorneys must have:

Communication skills: the first and most important job for an attorney is to speak and communicate effectively so that the person in front of them would get convinced by their arguments.

Nerves of steel: To do job as an attorney is a tough task and it is not as easy as on eyes. Attorneys must know how and when to control their temper and nerves, he must remain smooth and calm even when things start to go against him. It’s probably the worst challenge an attorney faces during the court hearings.

Critical thinking Skills: law practitioners have very short and critical time to respond with high intense surroundings. In that manner, the attorney must be abrupt as problem solver and think right at the right time otherwise they will face difficulty in winning the trial.

Research Skills: Lawyers must have the excellent researching abilities and research must be pitch perfect, otherwise it might worsen the situation for the attorney in presenting the evidence.

Job Outlook: after completing the law degree and work experience attorney can work as associates of law firms and any company’s legal advisors. Initially, the young and fresh attorneys have to work under the experienced law officers and with the passage of time, they can learn a lot of useful practical skills from the seniors. After getting handsome experience, there will be two options for attorneys; either to become a judge or to join the law school faculty.

Working Environment:

Some law graduates go for the private corporate sectors and practice there while other join the local and state duties. Both are different working environment as in a public sector, you gain more experience rather than private. The working environment of private firm is static and slow while local sector has speedy growth. This will turn out to be high-pressure career responsibility as a criminal lawyer because you have to spend a lot of time with the criminals which is very intensive sometimes.

Working Schedules:

An attorney has to work day and night in order to sort out the client cases in deadlines especially for the solo practitioner without having any assistant. Generally, attorneys can work full time, about 40 hours per week in order to meet the results.

Job comparison with salaries:

  • Judicial Clerk can earn up to $53,540 per year
  • The Paralegal may get around $50,940
  • Judge will make $133,920 every year.

So it’s a great opportunity for an attorney to look up at these spaces and grab the opportunity of maximum earnings so that be successful in profession as well as in life.

References:

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney
  2. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/attorney-career-information-525987