A Career Guide to Becoming a Personal Injury Lawyer
Car accidents happen each day, and personal injury attorneys are always in demand. These are professionals who help accident victims to get the rightful settlement for their damages. To start a career in the field, you require various qualifications and training.
Here’s a guide to becoming a personal injury attorney:
1 Acquire a Bachelor’s degree
You require an undergraduate degree to qualify as a personal injury attorney. Most colleges accept undergraduate courses from different areas of study. These include social sciences, political science, English and history.
You must also take a mock test either at the former school or in a lawyer’s office. Why is this necessary? A mock trial grants you the chance to work alongside an experienced personal injury lawyer los angeles to learn more about court proceedings.
2. Take a Law School Admission Test (LSAT)
Before finishing your bachelor’s program, you must take a LSAT. This is a multiple-choice test that gauges your understanding of law issues and skills used by attorneys’ in their day to day activities. These are for instance;
- Task management
- Research
- Critical reading
- Logic
Not everyone qualifies for admission to the law school. The positions are highly competitive, and you have to score highly on the LSAT and get high grades.
3. Graduate with a law degree
The initial step to becoming a personal injury attorney involves earning a degree in law. You’ll cover general legal subjects like torts, contracts, legal writing, and criminal law in the first year.
However, the subsequent years of study focus more on elective courses relating to personal injury.
These include;
- Advanced tort law
- Civil litigation
- Medical malpractice law
For your law degree, join institutions approved by the American Bar Association which qualifies you for admittance to the bar. Also, go for an internship with a personal injury law firm, and this will teach you on trail practices used in personal injury cases.
4. Take& pass the bar examination.
To practice as a lawyer, you are required to sit and pass the bar exam. This qualifies you to admittance to the bar and licensure. However, the test is not specific to only personal injury attorneys; it’s the same exam for all specialties. The content of the test varies between states but normally covers national and state-specific laws. What’s more? You must sit for your bar test in the same state that you intend to practice.
5. Take the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE)
The MPRE is a multiple-choice examination that will test your understanding for professional conduct in legal matters. These include laws that govern professional behavior and their application to lawyers in cases like censure or contempt.
6. Complete continuing education law
This is mandatory in most states, and you need it to maintain the bar status. Most law schools offer this type of education, and you can enroll for the course in any law school. Continuing education will enable you to stay afloat with the current changes and updates in law.
Conclusion
A career in law takes years of training and practice. To qualify as a personal injury lawyer, visit a law school near you and learn about all the requirements. Also, compare the cost between colleges and join an accredited school for your degree.