<p>whenever one goes to law school, do they have programs similar to majors in undergrad schools or how is it that you specify what you want to be since there's so many different forms of law. i'm hoping to become an international human right lawyer for the united nations.</p>
<p>thanks for any help!</p>
<p>I Am Pretty Sure You Don't Actually Specify Your Area Of Law Until You Are Ready To Take A Job...i Think Law School Is The Basic Foundation And You Learn A Specialty Later.</p>
<p>Don't you get a basic law education in LS and to go into a specialized area you get an LLM? I could be wrong.</p>
<p>Most U.S. lawyers never get an LLM (other than perhaps tax lawyers, where it is quite common). Law school gives you a basic education. Typically, your first year of courses is set (property, civil procedure, torts, criminal law, constitutional law, legal writing, etc.), with perhaps an elective or two taken from a limited slate of possibilities. After that, you take whatever classes you choose in your second two years (though you may need to take a class or two that require extensive writing), and many students use the opportunity to take classes in their areas of interest (e.g. a student who wants to work for the DA might take complex litigation, an appellate workshop or a class in advances theories of criminal punishment, a student who wants to work in corporate law might take corporate taxation, securities regulation and mergers and acquisitions). Generally, there are no majors, minors or areas of concentration in law school, though the coursework you choose to take can certainly set you up to head in one direction or another in your career (many people also choose careers vastly different than the trend in their coursework).</p>
<p>Once you begin practicing, assuming that you work for a large law firm, you don't necessarily choose your area of specialization then. Many firms require you to rotate through different practice groups for a year or two before a mutual decision (you and the firm) is made regarding your practice area. Other firms require you to choose a general area of practice (corporate, litigation, etc.), but you work on many different matters within that area for a year or two or three. Most practice areas within large law firms are generally defined (litigation, corporate, taxation, etc.), so you can specialize further within that group as you gain experience and determine what you want to do.</p>