<p>what do they do exactly, hows the pay, what schooling is needed?</p>
<p>You'd probably get better information in the law school forum.</p>
<p>Ok...this advice is gold so listen and take my advice.</p>
<p>I'm a 3rd year law student at a decent top 100 school. I'm near, but not at, the top of my class. My second year I got a summer associate position with the largest firm in the world, DLA Piper. I chose to concentrate in real estate and tax law. Money is real good. Average salary for a summer associate (10 weeks) is $30k. Once you're a summer, they normally (95%) retain you after law school and average salary is $160,000 w/ nearly $100,000k extra in bonuses.</p>
<p>Now you've heard the juicy part. Here's the bad part. The economy is terrible and I was one of those "necessary cuts" in order for the firm to survive. You will NOT, I repeat, NOT get into a big firm unless you go to a good school and are at the literal top of your class. I got lucky because my uncle is a partner. No matter how smart you are, law school is cut throat and even if there are 15 people smarter than you, you won't get a big firm job. Unless you go to a top 14 school (see US NEWS Report for rankings).</p>
<p>You need to go to law school and there are no undergraduate prerequisite courses. All you must do is take the LSAT exam. But you must score well because law school applications are tripling and back when I applied, only 30% of those students who applied to an ABA accredited law school were accepted (to any school, good or terrible). Law school is ridiculously expensive, especially a private institution (and all the good ones are private). Look to spend at least 100K for schooling.</p>
<p>If you're not passionate about it, don't waste your time. Job outlook is horrendous. If you don't get into a big firm, good luck with the mid-size and small firms. They're all cutting back.</p>