Are you considering a career in the legal sector? When most people consider venturing into the legal field, they often think about becoming attorneys. However, the legal sector is quite diverse, with many lucrative careers. Read on for 10 exciting non-lawyer jobs in the legal industry.
1. Mediator
Parties involved in a dispute often prefer to use a mediator before taking a matter to court. This is because it is time-consuming and expensive to handle a legal case in court. A mediator acts as a neutral third party in a dispute and is responsible for helping parties resolve a situation in an equal and amicable manner.
Mediators are involved in various areas of law, including commercial, family and tenant, and landlord disputes. While you do not need a law degree to become a mediator, having in-depth knowledge in legal practice and legal matters is crucial. You should also have outstanding conflict resolution skills and have a minimum of five years experience or have higher education qualification in counseling, education or therapy, and social work.
2. Legal consultant
If you don’t enjoy the client representation aspect in a court of law proceedings but enjoy research and legal analysis, you should consider a job in legal consulting. A legal consultant provides professional advice tailored to a paying client's needs. You may focus on specific areas of law as a legal consultant, including employment law, corporate law, or medical law.
Most clients who seek a legal consultant’s services are looking for professional legal advice and not representations often to avoid legal problems that may require expensive and time-consuming cleaning up when they make their way to a legal system. Be sure to enroll in Juris Doctor Online Canberra to acquire relevant legal skills and knowledge to become a legal consultant.
3. Paralegal
A paralegal is a trained professional who works under an attorney’s supervision. They help improve the efficiency of legal services and keep costs down. Some of the duties of a paralegal include:
- Researching relevant laws and regulations
- Investigating cases
- Gathering, organizing, arranging, and maintaining legal documents
- Writing reports to help solicitors prepare for trials
- Taking notes, reviewing transcripts, and handling exhibits during trial
- Filing appeals, briefs, exhibitions, and other legal documents with the opposing counsel or court
- Scheduling depositions, meetings, and interviews
If you are looking to become a paralegal, you should consider enrolling for a legal practice course as most hiring companies require applicants to have a legal qualification.
4. Jury consultant
Jury consultants are behavior experts who help lawyers win cases by providing insights on juror behavior. They help attorneys develop trial themes and arguments designed to persuade specific jurors. The duties and responsibilities of a jury consultant include:
- Researching juror backgrounds
- Developing juror profiles
- Assisting attorneys to select and question potential jurors
- Performing pretrial research
- Conducting mock trials
- Performing statistical analysis
5. Law professor
Have you recently discovered that you are no longer interested or excited about the traditional lawyer occupation? You should consider a role in academia. Law professors are responsible for educating aspiring attorneys. They instruct law school students on all aspects of legal studies, including civil procedure, criminal law, legal analysis and reasoning, tort law, contract law, and skills and concepts in legal practice.
A law professor ensures that law students develop legal skills, practical conflict resolution skills, and the ability to apply knowledge in different real-time legal situations. Apart from teaching, a law professor also contributes to scholarly research. To become a law professor, you need to have a few years of experience practicing law.
6. Politician
Are you more interested in the political job of a politician? Politicians have different roles in the executive and legislative branches at the state, federal and local levels of the government. They are responsible for developing laws and policies that affect individuals, companies, and organizations.
A law degree is an excellent stepping stone when you want to become a politician since you can grasp the complex language applied in legislation. It helps you read current bills and decide whether or not to vote on a bill and sign it into law.
7. Chief financial officer
This is a high-level financial manager responsible for overseeing and directing the monetary functions of an organization, including forecasting, accounting, financial analysis and planning, financial reporting, and budgeting. Chief financial officers (CFO) use their financial planning skills to determine a law firm's cash flow to help the organization maintain excellent financial health. They establish a firm’s operating policies, shape the company's financial future, explore growth opportunities and protect the organization’s financial stability.
8. Electronic discovery professional
An electronic discovery specialist, also referred to as an e-discovery professional, collects, processes, transmits, reviews, and preserves digital evidence generated during a criminal proceeding or lawsuit. The duties of an e-discovery specialist include:
- Identifying and managing electronically-stored information in litigation
- Maintaining and developing electronic discovery preservation policies
- Collecting, analyzing, and processing electronic information
- Staying informed of the processes and tools related to electronic discovery while providing support in litigation technologies
- Developing and supporting production workflow and document review
9. Compliance specialist
Compliance specialists, also known as regulatory affairs professionals, are popular in tightly regulated sectors like finance or healthcare to ensure all businesses and operations are run per the pertinent laws and regulations. For instance, a compliance specialist provides hospitals to abide by the HIPAA standards and rules in the health sector. The duties of a regulatory affairs specialist include:
- Promoting a robust code of integrity and ethics within an organization's operations
- Make certain policies, procedures, and contracts adhere to current regulations.
- Monitoring for suspicious or unusual activities
- Conducting compliance audits and drafting documents for reviewing
10. Lobbyist
A lobbyist is a paid professional whose goal is to influence individuals in power, such as legislators, to make decisions or choices in favor of a specific industry or company. Some of the responsibilities of a lobbyist include:
- Sharing client’s policies and position with concerned parties or government officials
- Communicating government’s or parties responses to clients
- Examining and researching regulatory and legislation proposals
- Striving to influence opinion leaders
Endnote
Do not limit yourself to becoming a lawyer when you graduate from law school. Familiarize yourself with the above careers in the legal sector, get the relevant knowledge and skills, apply for jobs and start earning.