‘Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbour to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man…. There will still be business enough.’
~ Abraham Lincoln
Do you have a strong interest in the legal field? Do you have the leadership qualities necessary to guide and supervise others’ work? Do you believe you will manage clients well? If so, being a lawyer is a great career choice for you. It holds the promise of regular working hours, fantastic remuneration, and a unique opportunity to apply your diverse set of interpersonal and professional talents to help clients as their legal advisor.
It’s critical to understand what this profession requires and what you need to study, so let’s have a look at what is involved.
In this article:
- Career opportunities in law
- Lawyers’ primary responsibilities
- Types of lawyers
- Do I need a BA or Bachelor of Commerce in law, or an LLB degree?
- Additional skills to develop through your law degree
- Jobs after your law degree
Career opportunities in law
The scope of the legal field and the career opportunities in law have broadened over the years. Nowadays lawyers are not only engaged in the courts, but also in corporate jobs at various businesses, IT firms, administrative services, and law agencies as in-house counsel.
Being a lawyer requires you to understand the law and how to execute matters in accordance with it – applying legal theory and knowledge. As a lawyer, you must uphold the law while defending the legal rights of your clients.
Lawyers’ primary responsibilities
Your primary responsibilities, as a legal practitioner, are likely to include analysing and conducting research on various legal issues, presenting advice to clients and others in writing or orally, preparing strategies for action in professional and private matters, and representing clients, preparing and arguing lawsuits on their behalf.
Depending on which branch of the law you choose to specialise in, you might also handle appeals, deeds, wills, and other contracts.
Types of lawyers
There are numerous job profiles for lawyers, including:
- Arbitrator, mediator, conciliator
- Attorney
- Advocate
- Conveyancer
- Legal associate
- Magistrate or judge
- Prosecutor
- Family lawyer
- Tax lawyer
- Criminal lawyer
- Civil lawyer
- Securities lawyer
Do I need a BA or Bachelor of Commerce in law, or an LLB degree?
Neither a Bachelor of Arts in law nor a Bachelor of Commerce in law is enough, on its own, to become a legal practitioner in South Africa, though you can qualify for admission by the High Court of South Africa to practice as a lawyer if you complete a two-year Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in addition to your first degree.
The quicker and more focused route to becoming a legal practitioner is to obtain an LLB degree. If you take this route, you need to complete the four-year programme at an accredited institution to qualify for admission.
Whichever route you take, you must also complete two years of articles and pass the board exams before you can be admitted by the high court.
Additional skills to develop through your law degree
You’ll have the chance during your law degree studies to learn a variety of skills not purely related to legal knowledge – technical, research, business, workplace, argumentation, and clear writing skills, to name a handful. All are essential to your success as a lawyer, whether you practise alone or as part of a bigger organisation.
Jobs after your law degree
By the time you start your studies, you should have considered the areas in which you might like to practise, as you will need to choose elective classes for particular specialisations.
The employment possibilities open to law degree graduates include:
- Litigation
- Corporate counsellor
- Environmental law
- Business law
- Cyber law
- Judicial services
- Maritime law
- Academia
- Legal publishing
I’m confident that a sincere assessment of these factors will help you decide which qualification to pursue, and help put you on the path to a perfect legal career.
Keep learning, since that is what will ultimately lead to career enhancement and growth.
Wishing you a great career and lots of success!
Happy learning.
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