Where Can A Law Degree Take You?

You spent four, maybe five years earning your baccalaureate degree and are looking forward to another three tedious years in law school in pursuit of your juris doctorate. The decision about which field of the law do you plan to focus on for your law degree, may still be unanswered and your thought process becomes more muddled as your first day of classes looms on the horizon.

While the basis of law of the three main specializations are closely related, at some point during your educational career you will have to decide on your field of specialty of civil, public or criminal law. Among those three main headings will be additional fields from which to pursue and your final decision may wait until you have served an internship or two in a field you believe holds the most personal interest.

Many licensed practicing attorneys will tell you that those who become lawyers simply because they heard there was good money in the field, will not be happy with the day-to-day tedium of practicing law, regardless of their chosen specialty. Thousands of licensed attorneys seek counseling each year on their careers and career counseling. Sometimes a change in their specialties is all they need to rekindle their love of the law and other times they put their law degree to work in other venues.

When looking towards entering a specialized field, understand there are arenas in addition to the three main divisions. For example, under civil law, you can practice family law, environmental, the law and economics among many others. Also referred to as private law it regulates the relationship between society's members. It can involve contracts such as real estate transactions, marriage and divorce.

Public law involves rules that pertain to the public's power such as executive and international law and well as constitutional law. Criminal law, essentially a part of public law, protects society through deterrent-based prosecution. The belief in criminal law is that when the general public can witness the accountability of performing some illegal act, it serves as a deterrent for others not to perform the same act.

When choosing the field of law in which you want to specialize it may be a field that holds a special or personal interest for you. For example, a person with a special love of the environment can look at public law to ensure existing laws and regulations concerning environmental concerns are followed, or criminal law to prosecute those who fail to follow those laws. Others may choose to defend those accused of violating the environmental laws.

Another field, which may interest those looking at public law, could be copyright or trademark in protecting corporations or individuals from infringements against their intellectual property or patents or trademarks. If your interest involves protecting people from corporate harm, the law of food and drugs may interest you as it involves insuring compliance with labeling and pre-notification of harmful probabilities in numerous food products and drugs.

Additionally, holding a degree in law, while not giving you a license to practice law in any given state, can be useful in many areas of employment regardless of your specific interests.