To become a lawyer, we know that there are certain legal requirements we need to possess. The most common and well-known is legal education. In order to practice the profession, one needs to take up a pre-law course followed by a legal degree. Law school would take about 4 years or more, depending on your country or State. After a law school education, graduates would need to take a bar exam to obtain their legal license. Without it, they cannot practice their profession.
That’s a lot of time needed to dedicated before one can be a member of the legal profession. But beyond just the educational requirement, there are skills that lawyers must possess not necessarily to gain the title, but in order to succeed in their practice. If you’re thinking about becoming a lawyer, here are the essential skills you need.
Good communication skills
In law school, lawyers take a course called legal communication and legal writing. That just stresses how important it is for an attorney to have good communication capabilities. The profession requires them to communicate with their clients day in and day out. They should be able to assist them in the best ways possible, which includes discussing the legalities involved in their cases.
But it’s not enough for lawyers to be able to talk in legalese, a.k.a. the legal language that comprises of all the complicated terms and jargons. A good lawyer can communicate the law and explain it to the average person in order for their clients to understand the nature and requirements of their respective cases.
Ability to provide good service to clients
Many people think that becoming a lawyer is a sophisticated and elite profession. But in reality, lawyers are servants to the clients they help. Sure, they know all about the law and can be deemed as superior in an attorney-client relationship. But the true purpose of the profession is helping people and giving them legal aid.
The relationship between a lawyer and a client is given significant importance, to the point that it’s even recognized by law. That’s why lawyers should possess the capability to provide good services to their clients, which involves the traits of honesty, reliability, and transparency.
Good logical and analytical reasoning
The job of a lawyer involves understanding complex and complicated legal rules. On a daily basis, they must be able to digest the law and its requirements, while forming arguments and reasoning to suit their client’s cases — whether it be corporate law, criminal law, or family law, among others. In fact, one cannot even attend law school without good problem-solving and logical reasoning.
Time management
When you hear the word “lawyer,” chances are you thought about the time it takes in order to be part of the profession. Lawyers need to dedicate their time to study and attend law school. After that, the profession itself is heavy on the time aspect. They need to do research, attend countless meetings, go to court hearings, etc. There’s no doubt that becoming a lawyer means sacrificing time for other things due to a demanding career.
That’s why lawyers must possess good time management skills. They need to be able to read thousands of pages, digest the law, study the clients’ case, etc. A typical day for a lawyer is extremely busy, so they have to be able to manage their time wisely.
Becoming a lawyer is indeed a challenging and very demanding profession. If you’re thinking about becoming an attorney, make sure to master these skills in order to be successful in your chosen career path.
