Practicing law is one of the most common career choice ideas amongst young people, many of whom do go on to gain status as a practicing lawyer. It is easy to see why this profession garners so much interest, the idea of upholding justice, defending the innocent and bringing the guilty to book, are most certainly appetizing thoughts when it comes to a career choice.
In order to become a great lawyer, there are a number of qualities which you will need to possess, and we spoke to the successful legal team at Dolan Law Firm, to find out exactly what those qualities are.
Hard Working and Passionate
To become a lawyer takes years of hard work and intense study, before you even begin to practice the law. Once you have made it through many years of rigorous education, you can then expect to work long hours as you practice the law itself. In order to make your way through education and then go on to be a great lawyer, you must have a great work ethic and a real passion for the law.
Intelligent
Academic ability is a highly important trait if you want to become a lawyer one day, and the law schools and law practices, have extremely high requirements in terms of grades and results. Whilst this is something that you can work on, if you don’t have natural intelligence in terms of education, you will struggle to make the required grade.
Team Working
Despite what you see on TV, lawyers do win cases on their own, they are in fact backed up by a huge team of legal professionals, who all have their roles within the case. As a lawyer, you will be required to work within various aspects of this team, in order to present the best case. You must therefore be able to put your ego to one side, and work hard for and with the team.
Analytical
Within your roles as both a law student and a lawyer, you will be required to read, memorize, process and assess huge amounts of information. This information could be about your case, about previous cases or even working within the law itself. In order therefore to be able to quickly process such large volumes of data, you will need to have analytical qualities, and be able to select the key points of interest that pertain to your case. For instance, in the real estate sector, it’s important that legal representatives understand the different facets of the industry and accordingly make decisions. When property owners or investors take the help of this trusted real estate attorney, it’s important that the legal professional is able to spot any loopholes in paperwork and assess all information properly.
Empathy
As much as all lawyers want to win their cases, it is always important to remember that there are people’s lives involved in the cases. With this in mind a lawyer must have empathy and be able to relate to their clients and make them feel as comfortable as possible. Many will say that lawyers should strip emotions out of what they do and focus on the case, but they are still providing a service to their client so levels of empathy are most definitely required.
