Legal career options

Legal careers are limited to just being a lawyer. Right? Wrong. People can be forgiven for believing that a career in law means being a lawyer, because lawyers take the headline news (sometimes quite literally). But just like the way that you might believe a career in the air force is all about being a fighter pilot, there’s actually a supporting pyramid of roles that prop up the main roles that we all know and understand.

It doesn’t take much to instil the thought that a legal career might be the way to secure a profitable future. Money isn’t everything, but in the choice between being broke and being financially buoyant, not a single person is going to choose having an empty bank account. Even something like seeing one lawyer on TV can be enough to make you want in. Lawyers are smartly dressed. Lawyers get respect. Lawyers live in the kind of homes that are cleaned by staff driving new cars. Lawyers can afford nannies for their children. Lawyers go on cruises. Take any aspect of the life you see a lawyer living and you compare it to your non-lawyer lifestyle, and the gap may just be vast.

If you’re looking for an example, check out Lafayette PI lawyers for an insider peek to a law firm. But for now, let’s look at some careers in law that you may not have considered.

Entry level - associate attorney

You don’t just send off your application to be a lawyer and start the next day. There’s a process to these things. The likelihood is that you’ll begin your career in law as an associate attorney. This is a bright and sparkly way of saying ‘understudy’. You’ll be carrying out tasks that assist lawyers in their duties, learning as you go. You could be working in real estate law, copyright law… absolutely anything.

Trademark Paralegal

Trademark paralegals assist clients with filing claims relating to things like logos and brand names. This involves research into brand history and patent law. If this sounds like your kind of thing, trademark paralegal work could be for you.

Corporate Attorney

A corporate attorney is a type of lawyer employed by a company to advise and guide executives on creating and implementing company guidelines of all kinds. The aim is to keep the company on the right side of the law on a range of issues, from trading to employment. This is very document based, so you’ll need to be a dab-hand on the keyboard, working into the night to type up and file all company handbook updates.

There are literally dozens of types of work available in the legal arena. Do your research and find the thing that’s going to suit you for years to come.