A funny looking serious article: How becoming a lawyer works

I couldn't have been more amused to see someone telling how one becomes a lawyer when I saw a full series on 'How Stuff Works' telling one about "how becoming a lawyer works". I had been contemplating a series on articles on law intended to cover right from the history of law, its branches, legal profession right upto the recent trends in law. It sure is a mammoth exercise but then this article definitely reduces my burden on that. [click here for the full article]

It not so surprisingly starts with the decision-making (and believe me a really tough one) of "to be or not to be a lawyer". While for those who have loads of family members in the profession already, becoming a lawyer would be a natural choice, those having no God-fathers in this tough, competitive and greedy looking way of living would not come less than the decision of joining the army. It requires a lot of character for its not just your knowledge but also the sharp written and spoken skills which give the profession a colour which no other has got. No wonder Portia had to come dressed as a lawyer or else Shylock would have had its way in The Merchant of Venice.

Covering Law School as the major area for "become a lawyer", this article sets itself off to life during and after law school as the next major factor for choosing the profession. Being at law school is as equally important as the clerkships and internships as I put it, rather than the other way round.

However, naturally though, what I though was the glaring deficiency of the article was the subjective element in it. Though technically the process described is right but then the various stages which change a general-course student to a law graduate cannot be put in so less words than this article puts it. The cut-throat fight for placements/jobs, the competitive rivalry during the law school, the big rough world outside is something needing to be mentioned in any attempt to describing "how becoming a lawyer works" without which the description is not only half-hearted but also incomplete.

Its a fine attempt, a typical US perspective alone though, to describe the entire process in such simplistic outlook. Nonetheless a lawyer-to-be would have to look for more personal advise than this before one decides to take on a career in law.