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Researched by Brianna Y.
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Research Summary
What is a lawyer? A lawyer is a man or a woman who helps people in need because of a major legal problem.
There are a lot of different kinds of lawyers, such as city attorney and US attorney. There are also a lot of fields of specialization, much like trail lawyers, bankruptcy, probate, international, or elder law. Also there is copyrights, insurance, and environmental law. There are only four more kinds. There is patent, government regulations, contracts, and bargaining agreement lawyers. Most Lawyers practice privately. There are also many jobs a lot like being a lawyer. These include political office holders, legislators, title examiners, journalists, paralegals, lobbyists, and FBI investigators.
Whenever a problem goes before a judge to be decided, it is called a “court case.” Usually in a court case one person or group is called the “claimant,” because they claim they have been harmed in some way by another person or group. Those accused of doing the harm are called “defendants,” because they are trying to defend themselves from the accusation and prove they are innocent of doing anything wrong. One or more lawyers will represent the claimant and will argue their side of the case before the judge. Another lawyer will represent the defendant and argue their side to prove innocence. Each lawyer is trying to convince the judge to decide in their client’s favor. Finally the judge (or a jury) will make a decision. If the problem being decided is really important to society or if it deals with some new topic that has never been brought to court before, the judge’s decision becomes a part of legal history. It will help new judges decide similar cases in the future.
When people are learning to become lawyers, they must attend law school. The first U. S. law school, Harvard, started in 1883 and is still going. Many years ago, law schools only used lectures and textbooks. Starting in 1870 Christopher C. Lengdell, a professor at Harvard, introduced the case method. This method studies real court cases and the decisions that judges made. It was a good idea! In the 1900’s a lot of other law schools started to use the case method, too. Students would read about what judges said in the past, then they would discuss the decisions and the reasons behind them.
The biggest benefit to being a lawyer is that you get to help people in need. Another good aspect is, if your client wins, you might get a really big salary.
There are also a few not-so-good aspects. If your client is judged guilty and has to pay a big fine or gets sent to jail, you would feel bad. The job involves people having disagreements, so you have to hear and do a lot of arguing just about every day. You have to talk a lot, communicate ideas clearly, and work with a wide variety of people (possibly including criminals).
You need a lot of schooling to be a lawyer. First, you need a high school diploma. Then you must go to college for 4 years, get good grades, and earn a Bachelors degree. You must go to law school for 4 years, then pass a huge test, and get a license. In school you need certain classes, like English, writing, speaking, foreign language, logic, science, computers, government, history, and psychology.
The average yearly salary for a lawyer is $88,000 most make between $60,000 and $130,000. New attorneys just out of school often start around $52,000, but it depends on the type of job.
One of the most important things about being a lawyer is talking with your clients. You always have to ask your clients questions and communicate clearly with them. You must spend a lot of time doing research by looking up old cases similar to the one you’re solving. This library research is important to winning a case.
Lawyers work at many different places. Lawyers often work in libraries,
offices, and courtrooms. All lawyers continue working in law libraries
to prepare cases. Lawyers usually have structured work schedules like 8:00
am - 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday. There are about 681,000 U. S. lawyers;
and nearly 3/4 is in private practice. When Harvard started it was only
a white school.
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