Becoming a lawyer provides a rewarding career path, allowing you to help make a social and personal difference to people’s lives. Whatever branch of the law you’re thinking of specialising in, you will find something that makes your choice worthwhile.
If you’re having trouble deciding, we’ve compiled six reasons on why you should become a lawyer that can also hopefully give you some guidance on how to become a lawyer.
1. Specialisation in Your Career
As we’ve already mentioned, when you’re thinking about how to become a lawyer, one of the first things you’ll encounter will be choosing a specific branch to focus on depending on where your interests and talents lie.
Whether you’re looking to go into family law, criminal law or corporate law, you will be able to follow your interests and use your chosen branch to help people, giving you personal and professional fulfillment.
2. A Professional and Formal Career
It’s important to remember that being a lawyer comes with a lot of responsibility, making it the perfect career choice for those of you who like hard work and are dedicated to long hours and research in order to get the best result for their clients.
This will include wearing professional and formal clothes as your lawyer outfit, allowing you to look respectable and trustworthy to your client and when you’re in court or a meeting, helping you to make a good impression.
3. Advancement Along Your Career Path
Being a lawyer provides a lot of opportunities to progress to higher levels of responsibility, allowing you to cover more of the duties of a lawyer and become more in control of your career and your cases.
Advancement options include progressing from associate to partner within your law firm and gaining more seniority and authority in the office. You could also eventually open up a private practice or a pro bono practice, giving you full control over your duties as a lawyer and allowing you to carry out cases and hire a team on your terms.
4. Competitive Annual Salary
It’s always worth noting that being a lawyer pays well, giving you plenty of financial stability. When you’re applying for a beginner’s lawyer job, trainees are often paid an average of £20-23,000 per year with the salary rising to around £50, 000 for associate lawyers and associate solicitors.
Progressing higher through your law firm to the position of a partner will be able to earn you an average of £70, 000. This kind of high salary can provide a number of benefits for you including medical and dental expenses, life insurance and being a part of your firm’s profit sharing team.
5. High Level of Reputation
The more you work as a lawyer, the more recognition you’ll get in your field. This can help to build your reputation amongst prospective clients as well as in the courtroom, allowing you to take on more cases of prestige and enhance your career in law.
Your reputation within the law industry will grant you a higher level of influence, allowing you to make a more significant change in society and the lives of your clients, proving further how beneficial progressing in the field of law can be.
6. Transferable Skills
If nothing else, following a career in law for a while will allow you to build up experience in a professional industry and learn valuable skills concerning research, writing and managing large cases and workloads.
These transferable skills translate well to a number of academic jobs, such as going into lecturing, journalism, accountancy or legal management to name just a few. If you decide being a lawyer isn’t for you in the end, you’ll have plenty of options to fall back on to help you take your career in a different direction.
When you’re thinking about why to become a lawyer, it’s important to make sure you are thinking long-term. Becoming a lawyer is a huge commitment and the duties of a lawyer are varied and can seem daunting to someone who is unprepared.
Ultimately though, being a lawyer provides a number of rewards for both your professional and personal life and even if you don’t stick with the career long-term, you will still learn valuable skills and lessons and have the pride of having helped a lot of people during your career.
