<p>Greybeard (and other lawyers) - My son is a upcoming sophomore in Texas Tech Honors College majoring in political science/government (with a minor in business). He is off to a good start with all A's his first year (including several writing intensive courses). Yesterday I gave him a copy of "Elements of Style" and your e-mail on how to improve one's reading/writing.</p>
<p>The reason for this e-mail is to get your advice regarding how my son could get a fore-taste of what the legal profession may be like so he could determine for himself if law is the way he wants to go. (I have also discussed with him possible business and government career options as well. As I am a federal employee and have an MBA, I have these career advice alternatives covered, but the legal field is a unique animal). Thanks, and I look forward to your usual sage comments.</p>
<p>lonestardad: Internships at law firms, or even part-time work in the support services section of a large firm, will give your son one view. Working as a student-itern in Austin or D.C. will give another view. And, volunteering in a poverty law center will give yet another view.</p>
<p>Your son may already have done this, but...I am always amazed by the number of college students who don't check out things available through their colleges. If he hasn't already done so, he should go to Texas Tech's Office of Career Services--or whatever it's called there; to the office which handles part-time employment, if it's different; to the community service or volunteer center. He may not find out anything useful, but he might. Most organizations which want to hire college kids or use them as volunteers send the relevant information about these positions to colleges.</p>
<p>The other suggests are good, but the best way to find out what a law career is like is to spend ten to fifteen days sitting in various courthouses observing what happens in court. After watching enough traffic, civil, and criminal cases, he will have a good idea about what clients are like. I would also encourage him to try and observe clients and their lawyers immediately after exiting court. He will see quite a range of emotions.</p>
<p>jonri - Thanks for noting the Career Services Office. My son has started to use their services with advice on interviewing for U.S. Senator internships. Law related openings are certainly possibilities as well.</p>
<p>bigmain - Observing courtroom activity is another nice idea to get the flavor of lawyers' real activities on a day-to-day level. I appreciate it.</p>
<p>I like Bigmain's suggestion, but would add the caveat that watching what goes on in courtrooms can tell your son a lot about what one type of law career is like. I spent a lot of time in courtrooms the first twelve years of my legal career; since I stopped litigating, and became an in-house transactional attorney, my working life consists mostly of long sessions of reading and writing at my computer, punctuated by telephone calls and meetings. (I'm guessing that on the surface, that describes what you do at work pretty accurately as well, with the differences relating to what we read, and what we're writing about.)</p>
<p>Working in litigation means you're achieve something that someone else is being paid to keep you from achieving. People who are non-confrontational by nature usually dislike it intensely. A favorable judgment or verdict can trigger a serious emotional high; an adverse one or a serious emotional low. Sometimes there are financial consequences commensurate with these emotions.</p>
<p>I miss the thrill of victory, but don't miss the agony of defeat one whit.</p>
<p>Jonathan Harr wrote a book called "A Civil Action" that gives a pretty dramatic, detailed and accurate account of what scorched earth litigation can be like. The protagonist (non-fictional) experiences higher highs and lower lows than most, but the book is a good description of what the day-to-day life of a truly high-powered litigator can be like.</p>
<p>I expect I'm slightly past the midpoint of my legal career. I went to a law school reunion last year, and was astounded by the diversity of my classmates' careers, ranging from a judge in a rural county, to partners in big firms, to partners in small firms in small cities, to the general counsel of a company with a globally recognized brandname. There were others who haven't practiced law in many years.</p>
<p>American Lawyer magazine has a lot of personal profiles of lawyers that could give your son some insight into the types of careers they have, and what their thoughts are about them. There are other publications with a more local focus that do the same thing; a law librarian could point your son to some of them. Scott Turow's novels also give something of the flavor of the lives of lawyers.</p>
<p>Greybeard - I appreciate your interesting remarks on what could give a college student a flavor of the good (and not so good) aspects of legal life. I will be sure to pass them on!</p>