In July, the Greater Princeton branch of AYLUS (GPA) and National Career Development Committee continued its Career Development Seminars open to all American students. The seminars introduce the professional requirements and industry status of different occupations to young people, helping students choose their future life directions.
Topic of this seminar is about the legal industry: What does the legal industry look like? Learn how to direct your life towards a lawyer in the legal industry!
Throughout history, societies have established systems of law to govern people. Without laws, there would be chaos, and the rights of individuals would not be protected. The legal industry has come a long way since the time of ancient Greece and Rome, where young boys learned by apprenticeship the many skills involved in pleading a law case. Today, lawyers need a great deal of training and extensive knowledge of legal matters in order to practice law.
You can make a difference in the world. A legal career allows you to directly impact the lives of people. For example, you could successfully defend someone who has been wrongly accused of a crime, work as a public defender to help people who can’t afford a lawyer, pursue litigation to help recover damages for clients injured by defective medicines or unsafe working conditions, or help the federal government take legal action against companies that violate environmental or antitrust laws.
Interesting work. If you enjoy challenging and interesting work, then a law career may be for you. Most lawyers say that no two days are the same, and the wide variety of practice specialties and work environments make this profession far from boring.
Career diversity. A wide variety of career paths are available—from work at law firms, to government agencies, to corporate law and academia, to private practice. There are also many specialties such as intellectual property, tax, health, and immigration law. Law is also a great launching pad for careers in business, politics, consulting, and other sectors.
Geographic freedom. A law degree allows you to work anywhere in the United States and even the world. (Of course, if you want to work in another state, you must be admitted to the bar of that state.)
Independence. Twenty percent of lawyers are solo practitioners, and many find this path to be highly rewarding.
Good pay. Lawyers earned an average salary of $145,300 as of May 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This salary is much higher than the national average ($53,490) for all careers. Starting salaries for law school graduates are much higher than those paid to graduates in many other majors. In 2018, law school graduates earned median starting salaries of $70,000, according to the National Association for Law Placement, up from $60,000 in 2011.
Improving outlook for women and minorities. The legal industry is a great option for women and minorities (although law firms still need to work to encourage more minorities to become lawyers and to increase the number of women and minorities in partner positions). Many firms have diversity programs and initiatives that both seek to increase the number of minorities in the legal industry and also strive to help both women and minorities advance to partner positions.
Some specialties are recession proof. Practice areas such as bankruptcy and business law will always be in demand because people, unfortunately, will always have financial problems, and businesses will always need attorneys to provide legal advice and to assist them with business transactions.
On July 15th, we invited Dr. Liu, Jiang, partner of Morrison & Foerster’s Financial Services Practice in the firm’s New York office. Dr. Liu’s practice spans a broad range of bank regulatory work, and he has significant experience representing foreign and U.S. financial institutions. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Emory University.
Throughout the seminar Dr. Liu and Anthony discussed important details such as the qualities, goals, communication skills, and talents that are needed to succeed in the path to becoming a Lawyer. He also speaks on the importance of different technical skills and majors that are needed, as well as the challenges students should expect when choosing the path of a lawyer.
GPA member Anthony F Yang spent 3 hours of marketing and creating the flyer (7/12), 3 hours preparing prior to the seminar (7/14), and 4 hours of hosting, recording, and video editing (7/15). Cassie Tammy Wang helped with editing and uploading the video to AYLUS National YouTube channel (7/18, 2 hrs).
