Continuing with our theme of "proving by a negative," which is to say I am giving reasons not to go to law school before I give reasons to go to law school, let's move onto another area in which people are often confused about the life of lawyers: the trial.
I hear all the time from prospective law school students that they want to go to law school to be trial lawyers. They "LOVE" trial work.
Now, let's start with the basics: if you really want to be a trial lawyer, then go for it. There is no stopping you. But, keep in mind the following:
1. Most cases you will get (and by this I mean about 90%) will NEVER get to the trial stage. This applies for both civil and criminal cases. Most civil cases will settle. Most criminal cases will be pled out or, on rare occasions, dismissed. This is simply the way it works.
2. For every hour you are in the courtroom for a trial, you will be outside the courtroom for at least the same amount of time preparing for that trial. The preparation phase of the trial is the "grunt" work. Just like an Olympic athlete needs to spend countless hours preparing away from the limelight, it is the same for trial lawyers.
The only exceptions to the above are:
1. In Harris County, Texas (where I live and practice), we have a group of attorneys that exclusively handle traffic tickets, which are crimes in Texas (very minor crimes, but crimes nonetheless). This group of attorneys usually has at least three trials per week. But, these trials do not last more than one day and are usually only a few hours long (this is not to disparage their work, but this is the way traffic ticket trials operate).
2. There are a VERY FEW attorneys who have risen above all other trial attorneys and are brought in for the sole purpose of trying cases.
I hear all the time from prospective law school students that they want to go to law school to be trial lawyers. They "LOVE" trial work.
Now, let's start with the basics: if you really want to be a trial lawyer, then go for it. There is no stopping you. But, keep in mind the following:
1. Most cases you will get (and by this I mean about 90%) will NEVER get to the trial stage. This applies for both civil and criminal cases. Most civil cases will settle. Most criminal cases will be pled out or, on rare occasions, dismissed. This is simply the way it works.
2. For every hour you are in the courtroom for a trial, you will be outside the courtroom for at least the same amount of time preparing for that trial. The preparation phase of the trial is the "grunt" work. Just like an Olympic athlete needs to spend countless hours preparing away from the limelight, it is the same for trial lawyers.
The only exceptions to the above are:
1. In Harris County, Texas (where I live and practice), we have a group of attorneys that exclusively handle traffic tickets, which are crimes in Texas (very minor crimes, but crimes nonetheless). This group of attorneys usually has at least three trials per week. But, these trials do not last more than one day and are usually only a few hours long (this is not to disparage their work, but this is the way traffic ticket trials operate).
2. There are a VERY FEW attorneys who have risen above all other trial attorneys and are brought in for the sole purpose of trying cases.
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