Choosing a legal career that fits a student’s personality, skillset, and aspirations is the most important and difficult decision a law student faces, yet only a small number of law schools incorporate career-planning into their curriculums. Law Jobs: The Complete Guide seeks to fill the gap. Written by three award-winning professors, Law Jobs is a comprehensive, reader-friendly guide to every type of legal career. Packed with authoritative research and featuring comments from more than 150 lawyers who do the jobs, Law Jobs offers in-depth exploration of each career option, including general background, pros and cons, day in the life descriptions, job availability, compensation, prospects for advancement, diversity, and how students can best position themselves for opportunities in the field. Covered jobs include:

  • Large and Medium-Sized Law Firms
  • Small Firms and Solo Practitioners
  • In-House and Other Corporate Counsel
  • Government Agency Lawyers
  • Non-Governmental Public Interest Law
  • Prosecutors and Public Defenders
  • Private Criminal Defense
  • JD Advantage Jobs
  • Contract (Freelance) Lawyering
  • Judges, Mediators, and Arbitrators
  • Judicial Law Clerks
  • Legal Academic Jobs

Other chapters address lawyer happiness, the rapidly changing face of the legal profession due to technology and other forces, the division between litigation and transactional law, and the top-50 legal specialty areas.

Together, the authors have received more than thirty awards for teaching and research, and have written extensively about law students and lawyers in books such as 1L of a Ride (McClurg), A Lawyer Writes (Coughlin), and The Happy Lawyer (Levit).


Imprint: West Academic Publishing
Series: Academic and Career Success Series
Publication Date: 09/23/2019

Andrew J. McClurg, University of Memphis School of Law

Christine Nero Coughlin, Wake Forest University School of Law

Nancy Levit, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law

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