Job Responsibilities
My responsibilities as an attorney include the continual
advancement of my cases, which include tasks such as drafting and
responding to discovery and motions and dealing with opposing
counsel on a regular basis. Often associated with such
strategizing is a great deal of document review to find
supporting evidence, research of various issues that may arise
and drafting of memos to memorialize research.
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Job Requirements
As an attorney, obviously you must complete college, law school
and successfully pass the bar. As for workload, it really
depends on the type of place that you work for. As a litigator,
my workload often fluctuates from a level where it's reasonable
to complete stress and very long hours.
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Uppers
The best parts of my job include using my analytical abilities to determine
which steps to take and how those actions will affect the case for possibly years
to come and the incredibly talented, hardworking people that I work with.
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Downers
The downers can include a tremendous amount of stress, long
hours, and the fact that you are never really "done" and get to
go home. The job goes home and often invades your
dreams/nightmares.
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Lifestyle
The legal field is still primarily white male dominated, however, over time, it
will be forced to become more diversified to reflect the rest of the world.
Luckily, there are many organizations that one can join to find support. As for
hours, they are long. Business travel can be fun at first and depending on the
position, one can be gone for weeks.
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Compensation
The salary isn't bad, but you work for every bit of it.
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Advice to Jobseekers
My one piece of advice is to follow your heart and don't let
other command your choices for the future. Simply following
others because that is the "most prestigious choice" can really
be ignorant because one spends so much time at the office.
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