What Does a Lawyer Do? A Teen's Career Guide
TL;DR
Lawyers advise clients, research the law, draft documents, and argue cases. The job blends writing, critical thinking, and negotiation more than dramatic courtroom speeches. Median U.S. pay is about $151,160, and the path takes roughly 7 years of college. Teens can start now by reading widely and joining debate.
What Lawyers Actually Do All Day
Forget what you see on TV. Most lawyers spend far more time at a desk than in front of a jury. A typical day starts with checking emails and voicemails from clients, opposing counsel, and court staff, then triaging what needs an urgent response. From there, the work usually splits into three buckets: research, writing, and talking to people.
Research means digging through statutes, past court decisions, and contracts to figure out how the law applies to a client's problem. Writing means turning that research into memos, briefs, contracts, or letters. Talking to people covers client meetings, witness interviews, negotiations with the other side, and, yes, occasional court appearances.
Only a small slice of lawyers, mostly litigators, argue in court regularly. Corporate lawyers might go years without seeing a courtroom. Transactional lawyers spend their days negotiating deals and drafting contracts. Public defenders and prosecutors, by contrast, are in court almost every day.
The Many Kinds of Law You Can Practice
"Lawyer" is one of the broadest career labels out there. Choosing a specialization shapes your daily life, your clients, and your salary. Here are the main areas:
- Criminal law. Prosecutors bring cases on behalf of the government. Defense attorneys represent people accused of crimes.
- Corporate and business law. Advising companies on contracts, mergers, taxes, employment, and compliance.
- Family law. Divorce, custody, adoption, and related matters.
- Intellectual property (IP). Patents, copyrights, trademarks. Often requires a science or engineering background for patent work.
- Immigration law. Helping people navigate visas, green cards, asylum, and deportation defense.
- Environmental law. Regulations around pollution, land use, energy, and climate.
- Human rights and public interest. Civil rights, refugee protection, poverty law, and constitutional cases.
- Tax law. Deep expertise in tax codes for individuals, companies, or estates.
You don't have to pick before law school, but knowing what interests you helps you choose electives, internships, and eventually a first job.
Skills That Actually Matter
Law rewards a specific mix of habits. Some of these you can build in high school.
- Careful reading. Cases and contracts are dense. A comma can change a legal outcome. Slow, active reading is a core skill.
- Clear writing. Legal writing prizes precision over flourish. Judges want short, structured arguments that get to the point.
- Analytical thinking. Spotting the issue, applying the rule, working through the facts, reaching a conclusion. Law school even has a name for it: IRAC.
- Verbal communication. Explaining complex ideas in plain language to clients who are stressed, confused, or scared.
- Negotiation. Most disputes settle. Getting to a fair outcome without a trial is often more valuable than winning one.
- Ethical judgment. Lawyers hold sensitive information and represent people whose lives depend on their advice. Integrity is not optional.
- Stamina. The work can be long-hour and detail-heavy, especially in the first years.
The Education Path
In the United States, becoming a lawyer usually takes about seven years after high school:
- Four-year bachelor's degree. Any major is fine. Common choices are political science, history, English, philosophy, and economics, but STEM majors are in high demand for patent law.
- LSAT or GRE. A standardized admissions test for law school.
- Three-year Juris Doctor (JD). Law school itself. The first year covers foundational subjects like contracts, torts, criminal law, civil procedure, property, and constitutional law.
- Bar exam. Every state requires passing its bar exam (or the multistate exam in most states) before you can practice.
- Character and fitness review. The state bar checks your background before admitting you.
Some countries have shorter routes. In much of Europe, law is an undergraduate degree, so you can be practicing by your mid-twenties. The U.S. path is longer but flexible about what you study first.
Salary and Job Outlook
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $151,160 for lawyers, based on May 2024 data. But that number hides a huge range. The bottom 10% earn under $72,780, while the top 10% clear $239,200 or more. Big-firm associates in major cities often start at over $200,000, while public defenders and legal aid attorneys usually earn much less, sometimes under $70,000.
Job growth is projected at about 5–10% through the early 2030s, roughly average for all occupations. Roughly 37,000 openings are expected each year, mostly to replace lawyers who retire or leave the profession. Competition for prestigious jobs is stiff, but demand is steady across most specializations.
The realistic picture: a solid, well-paying career for most, extraordinary money for a small group at the top, and meaningful but modestly paid work for those who go into public interest law.
How to Start Preparing as a Teen
You don't need to know constitutional law in high school. But a few habits now will pay off later.
Take the right classes
Load up on English, history, government, and economics. Honors and AP courses in these subjects sharpen the reading and writing skills law school will demand. A foreign language helps if you're drawn to international or immigration law. Statistics is useful for litigation. Computer science and STEM courses matter for IP and tech law.
Join activities that build the core skills
Debate club, Model UN, mock trial, and student journalism are the closest thing to legal training a high schooler can do. They teach you to build arguments, research quickly, and speak under pressure. Student government helps too.
Read widely and read hard things
Legal reading is dense. Building your reading stamina now on serious nonfiction, Supreme Court opinions (they're free online), long-form journalism, and classic novels pays off directly. Try these reading comprehension strategies to strengthen how you engage with texts.
Shadow a lawyer or intern
Contact a local attorney, courthouse, or legal aid clinic and ask if you can observe. Even a day sitting in on a hearing or seeing a real office is more informative than any brochure. Some courts offer teen internship or mentorship programs.
Practice arguing both sides
A good lawyer can defend positions they personally disagree with. Get in the habit of picking a topic, arguing one side convincingly, then flipping and arguing the other. It builds the intellectual flexibility law demands.
Is Law the Right Fit for You?
Some honest questions to ask yourself:
- Do you enjoy reading and writing more than most people?
- Are you comfortable with long, detail-oriented work?
- Can you handle high-stakes situations where people are counting on you?
- Do you like solving problems that don't have obvious right answers?
- Are you patient enough for a long education path?
If most of those are a yes, law could be a great fit. If you love the drama of TV courtrooms but hate reading, the real job might disappoint you. If you crave a career where you help people navigate hard moments, or where careful thinking really matters, this profession delivers.
How LEAI Can Help You Explore
Choosing a career is not a one-day decision. It's a series of experiments: reading about a field, trying its core skills, and seeing whether the work still excites you a month later. LEAI's "I Will Become" courses walk you through careers like a friendly tutor, one chapter at a time, and let you ask questions as they come up. Instead of a static article, you get a back-and-forth that adapts to what you're curious about. Try LEAI free to start exploring, or see how the platform works. If you're weighing several paths, our other career guides on data science and psychology are a good place to compare.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to major in pre-law to become a lawyer?
No. There is no required major for law school. Political science, history, English, and philosophy are common, but law schools accept students from every background, including STEM, business, and the arts. Focus on a major you'll do well in and that builds strong reading and writing skills.
How hard is it to get into law school?
It varies a lot by school. Top programs like Yale, Stanford, and Harvard admit under 10% of applicants and expect very high LSAT scores and GPAs. Many strong regional law schools have acceptance rates above 40%. Your LSAT score and undergraduate GPA are the two biggest factors.
Can I be a lawyer if I hate public speaking?
Yes, actually. Many lawyers rarely appear in court. Transactional lawyers, in-house counsel, IP attorneys, and estate planners spend most of their time reading, writing, and meeting with clients in small settings. If public speaking terrifies you, there are still plenty of legal careers that fit.