Working in these fields...

Lawyers find themselves engaged in many of the same things as non-lawyers—writing, advocating, analyzing, negotiating. What lawyers do that no one else can is represent people within the country's legal system. Training in law prepares you to interpret the law that is currently in place, both statute and common law, and to make predictions about how a particular action might fare under the scrutiny of that law.

If law draws your interest, it can be studied and practiced, certainly, but there are allied fields that interconnect and offer additional career possibilities. With a law degree, one might enter either private practice or government/non-profit settings as a practicing lawyer; or government/non-profit, using the law school credential and skills, but not actually serving as a lawyer. There is also the possibility of taking the law degree into seemingly less related fields such as media, business, and health care. Without a law degree, then, one cannot “practice law,” but it is possible to work in government/non-profit in such tasks as diplomacy, advocacy, planning, evaluating, researching, and writing. Settings for plying these skills are numerous: advocacy organizations, think tanks, congressional committees, administrative agencies, consulting firms, lobbying groups, and more.