Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement:
To practice law in the courts of any state or other jurisdiction, a person must be licensed, or admitted to its bar, under rules established by the jurisdiction's highest court. Nearly all require that applicants for admission to the bar pass a written bar examination. Most jurisdictions also require applicants to pass a separate written ethics examination. Lawyers who have been admitted to the bar in one jurisdiction occasionally may be admitted to the bar in another without taking an examination if they meet that jurisdiction's standards of good moral character and have a specified period of legal experience. Federal courts and agencies set their own qualifications for those practicing before them. To qualify for the bar examination in most states, an applicant must complete at least three years of college and graduate from a law school approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) or the proper state authorities. Recently, the American Bar Association approved 177 law schools. Others were approved by state authorities only. The required college and law school education usually takes seven years of fulltime study after high school—four years of undergraduate study followed by three years in law school. To meet the needs of students who can attend only part time, a number of law schools have night or parttime divisions which usually require four years of study. About one of six students in ABA-approved schools study part time.

Job Outlook:
Employment of lawyers has grown very rapidly and is expected to continue to grow faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005. Even though jobs for lawyers are expected to increase rapidly, competition for job openings should continue to be keen because of the large numbers graduating from law school each year. Law schools still attract large numbers of applicants and are not expected to decrease their enrollments, so the supply of persons trained as lawyers should continue to exceed job openings. There will be approximately 821,000 lawyers by 2005. The high number of graduates will strain the economy's capacity to absorb them. Although graduates with superior academic records from wellregarded law schools will continue to enjoy good opportunities, most graduates will encounter competition for jobs. As in the past, some graduates may have to accept positions in areas outside their field of interest or for which they feel they are overqualified.For example, banks, insurance firms, real estate companies, government agencies, and other organizations seek law graduates to fill many administrative, managerial, and business positions.

Sources of Additional Information:

The American Bar Association annually publishes A Review of Legal Education in the United States, which provides detailed information on each of the 177 law schools approved by the ABA, state requirements for admission to legal practice, a directory of state bar examination administrators, and other information on legal education. Single copies are free from the ABA, but there is a fee for multiple copies. Free information on the bar examination, financial aid for law students, and law as a career may also be obtained from: