Lawyer

What skills does a lawyer need?

As a lawyer, you must be capable of quickly analysing legal facts. This applies to contract negotiations just as much as in corporate management meetings. Since, often, you don't have the time to get a comprehensive legal assessment. This requires lawyers to be particularly perceptive and adopt an appropriate demeanour. When looking to fill a lawyer job, employers value the following attributes above all:

• Strong communication skills
• Self-confident manner
• Independent working style
• Resilience

If you're interested in finding a job as a lawyer, you should also have additional qualifications relevant to the subject area. However, you can also obtain these after completing your studies, by attending specialist courses. For example, you could become a specialist in labour law.

How to become a lawyer

To become a lawyer, you require a university degree or conversion diploma in law. You will need to take a professional solicitor's or bar examination in order to practise law. Although the process differs from country to county, in the UK, for example, only those who have passed the bar exam (barristers) represent their clients in court. Solicitors take care of extrajudicial legal matters. Whichever career path you take, practical training under fully fledged law practitioners is a necessity. This is usually one or two years. Public prosecutors' offices, law firms or courts qualify as suitable work experience providers. Depending on the professional route and local requirements, you may need to sit a qualifying exam before or after your professional training placement. And then onwards, to the Bar Council or a flourishing career as a solicitor!

By completing a specialist lawyer course or courses and proving you have had the necessary practice in the relevant legal field, you can further your training to become a specialist lawyer. You can obtain the designation as a specialist lawyer in many fields. Here is an example of the areas of law you can specialise in:

• Tax law
• Administrative law
• Labour law
• Criminal law
• Commercial and corporate law

Lawyers typically have excellent salary prospects.

This can depend on your area of specialisation, location and academic success. The salary of a lawyer is affected primarily by experience, however. Starting salaries when you're in training range from £20,000 to as much as £50,000 at some of the bigger firms. With five years of experience, you can expect to command a salary of £90,000 to as much as £240,000 in the top-earning areas of law. Lower paid areas of law, such as criminal and family law pay between £30,000 and £150,000 per year for advocates with over five years' experience.

Salary information from prospects.ac.uk, thelawyerportal.com