Preparing to be a Legal Counsel

If you want to obtain a legal counsel job, you'll need to go through several steps in order to obtain the right education and licenses.

A legal counsel job is not an easy opportunity to achieve, but many say it is worth the hard work.

Duties include handling complex litigation from inception to trial, as well as be responsible for day-to-day case management with focus on employment/human resources matters and contracts if applicable, complex research, investigation of laws in different states and regions.

If the attorney is involved in counseling for employment matters, duties may include overseeing the investigation of employee relations cases such as discrimination or harassment complaints, discharge complaints, wage and hour concerns, ADA situations, FMLA leaves, personal performance plan creation and execution, progressive discipline reviews, terminations strategies, performance management, recruitment, contract interpretation, company policy creation and/or reviews, performance reviews and/or procedures.

Most importantly legal counsel should be able to minimize cost and risk to the company they work for.

They should have have significant previous experience reading and interpreting legal documents, responding to subpoenas, preparing position statements and handling successful mediations, strong business and financial acumen as well as superior analytical and writing skills, the ability to respond to inquiries from regulatory agencies, customers and business community, and experience successfully managing outside counsel.

These are just one of the many attributes employers look for when hiring for legal counsel jobs.

First the person who wants to become a lawyer must get their undergraduate degree from the university of their choice. It should be a four-year degree and they should have plenty of diverse courses.

Next they will need to maintain a high GPA. After graduation, the potential law student must take the Law School Admission Test to gauge their ability. The LSAT is a half-day standardized test required for admission to all ABA-approved law schools, most Canadian law schools, and many non-ABA-approved law schools. It provides a standard measure of acquired reading and verbal reasoning skills that law schools can use as one of several factors in assessing applicants. The test is administered four times a year at hundreds of locations around the world.

Next they will need to get accepted and graduate from an American Bar Association-accredited school. Do not apply to every school that invites you to. Some schools are trying to generate a large base of rejected applicants, Doing so makes their applied vs. accepted number seem higher and their school more selective. Only apply to the schools you really wish to attend. Ensure your application is complete and get the appropriate number of written recommendations.

Wait for approval. Once approved, expect to devote a significant amount of time in school reading cases, researching case law, writing detailed briefs, and preparing to answer questions in class. Join a study group with people in your program early on.

Then the newly graduated student must pass the state bar exam to be come licensed to practice law in the state they choose.