Do you want to be a lawyer? This can be a difficult question to answer, and might feel too overwhelming to know at this current point in your life. While others might have known they wanted to be lawyers ever since they were in grade school, many of us do not know which career path we want to pursue at such an early time in our lives – and that’s okay!

If you are still deciding on whether or not law school might be the right path for you, there are a couple different ways to get closer to a decision.

1. Talk to current law students and lawyers!

A great way to figure out law school is for you? Go straight to the source! Start building your professional network and have informational interviews with students who are currently pursuing law, as well as friends, family members, or fellow alumni that are already in the legal profession. They will give you an honest accounting about their day-to-day duties, the ups and downs of their profession, as well as the steps they took to reach where they are today. Want to connect with someone? Make an account on Nova Network today.

Nova Network is like Villanova’s version of LinkedIn. We currently have almost 20,000 users who have opted in to receive notifications from current students – they want to help you! Once you have created your account, use the filters up at the top of the Network tab to see all of the Villanova alumni currently working in the legal profession. They might even be willing to offer internship advice, proofread your resume, or serve as a point of contact going forward. The possibilities are endless!

2. Sit in on a law school class

We’re very lucky in the fact that we have our very own highly-ranked law school in our backyard! Contact the Charles Widger School of Law today to ask about sitting in on a class. This is a very common practice in most law schools to help give students a feel for what a legal curriculum actually looks and feels like!

3. Job Shadow at a Law Firm

While it might not be an internship, job shadowing is a great professional alternative that grants a student a way to learn more about a certain profession! You can use Nova Network and sort alumni based on the ‘Help Topic’. One of the options should be ‘Job Shadowing’. Filter alumni based on these results and see what options come up!

4. Read Vault’s Guide to the Law

As a Villanova student, you have access to Vault – an online resource that provides in-depth guides to particular industry, as well as employer profiles. Create an account and instantly have access to dozens of e-books that explain daily duties of lawyers, different specialties of the law, as well as the pros and cons of the profession. Get started here.

5. Meet with your Pre-Law Advisor

Want to talk it out? Set up a meeting on Handshake with your Pre-Law Advisor to talk more about this question. Meetings are offered for both 15 or 30 minutes in-person in the Career Center or via Zoom.

6. Take stock of your values, skills, and interests

It is true that your interests and skills will change over time – it’s all part of the college and post-grad process! But it’s important to start with the basics. Even though there are significant differences between the various practice areas of law, there are essential skills that are required of all lawyers:

• Do you enjoy working closely with people regarding significant events or issues affecting their lives?
  The practice of law is a people business. Lawyers do not work merely on cases or research interesting legal issues. A lawyers makes a living by helping people who have come for aid and advice regarding personal, criminal, social, or business-related problems. Necessarily, clients have concluded that they cannot solve the problems on their own. Clients know they can divulge personal or private facts to be a lawyer. usually, clients will not perceive their problems as merely ordinary but as personal or business crises. Lawyers must enjoy working with people and must derive satisfaction from helping people work through difficult, threatening, and significant events.

• Can you empathize with a client yet objectively analyze the issues and their consequences in light of existing law?
  Every lawyer’s main task is to solve clients’ problems. Lawyers must be empathetic in order to properly understand the needs and concerns of their clients, but lawyers must also develop analytical skills to identify the potential legal issues that must be addressed and to formulate plans to reach results that one are consistent with the desires of the clients as well as the requirements of the law.

• Do you enjoy educating people about subjects about which they may be uninformed or have significant misconceptions?
  America’s complex society has required the development of far-reaching and often technical laws. Understandably, most clients are either wholly uniformed about many existing laws or have significant misunderstandings of what the laws prohibit or require. Lawyers must be able to competently educate their clients. This teaching task is complicated by the fact that each student has a direct interest in the subject area. The degree of comprehension will be affected by the clients’ subjective interests, unwillingness to hear bad news, or strong disagreements about the goals of the law. The need to educate is critical, so clients can make informed decisions about how to proceed. Tact is required in telling clients that their views of the applicable rules are incorrect.

• Are you able to articulate the analysis of a problem to others in a clear and concise manner, whether verbally or in writing?
  Two vitals skills of lawyers are the ability to speak and the ability to write in a clear, articulate manner. Lawyers must be able to convince others of their analysis of the facts, the requirements of the law, and the best results that can be reached for all concerned parties. Lawyers must be able to educate their clients and persuade other lawyers, juries, judges, or mediators. They must perform these tasks equally well by speaking or writing. The art of communication is key to becoming a successful, competent lawyer.

• Do you enjoy being an advocate? Can you argue both sides of an issue with enthusiasm?
  Lawyers’ satisfaction must come from helping others achieve desired results or from helping them avoid or alleviate the consequences of difficult situations. To allow clients to make informed decisions, lawyers must provide them with sufficient information concerning all possible alternatives. Ultimately, clients must decide what is best. Attorneys must stay within the ethical parameters of the Code of Professional Responsibility and must be able to accept and advance the clients’ decisions, even if those decisions are not the courses of action the lawyer recommends. Whether writing a will, negotiating a contract, litigating a lawsuit, or settling a divorce, a lawyer advocates for the personal needs, desires, and goals of his or her clients.

• Do you like detail work?
  The practice of law is a jungle, filled with pockets of quicksand for sloppy, lazy lawyers. Lawyers must pay strict attention to facts and details, because detail work is a significant aspect of the practice of law.

• Do you like to read and study?
  Lawyers never stop reading the law. From their first days of law school until their first days of retirement, lawyers must keep abreast of ever-changing laws. Competent lawyers must dedicate a significant number of hours on a regular basis to continuing their legal educations. This study time is in addition to many hours spent researching speciifc issues of law for particular cases.

Did you answer yes to many of these questions? Were these answers enthusiastic or were you thinking, “If I have to do it, I will?” To be a competent lawyer, it is not necessary that you currently possess all of these skills or that you have developed them to a high degree. You will have plenty of time for that. However, utilizing these types of skills on a weekly, daily, or hourly basis is the life of a lawyer.

The practice of law is exciting, meaningful, and rewarding. Throughout your career, you will have the ability to make beneficial and significant contributions to the lives of many people. You will come into contact with a variety of people, events, and areas, of knowledge that you may not otherwise have experienced within the confines of your personal life. The practice of law is a broadening educational experience that is both ongoing and demanding. In many fields of endeavor (e.g., medicine, science, education, and law), your attitude towards life and work is crucial. Simply put, you must enjoy learning and must strive to produce your best work.