Lawyers - 23-1011.00

Represent clients in criminal and civil litigation and other legal proceedings, draw up legal documents, or manage or advise clients on legal transactions. May specialize in a single area or may practice broadly in many areas of law.

Sample of reported job titles: Assistant Attorney General, Assistant Counsel, Associate Attorney, Attorney, Attorney at Law, City Attorney, Deputy Attorney General, General Counsel, Lawyer, Partner

Tasks

• Analyze the probable outcomes of cases, using knowledge of legal precedents.
• Advise clients concerning business transactions, claim liability, advisability of prosecuting or defending lawsuits, or legal rights and obligations.
• Select jurors, argue motions, meet with judges, and question witnesses during the course of a trial.
• Interpret laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses.
• Present evidence to defend clients or prosecute defendants in criminal or civil litigation.
• Represent clients in court or before government agencies.
• Present and summarize cases to judges and juries.
• Study Constitution, statutes, decisions, regulations, and ordinances of quasi-judicial bodies to determine ramifications for cases.
• Prepare, draft, and review legal documents, such as wills, deeds, patent applications, mortgages, leases, and contracts.
• Negotiate settlements of civil disputes.
• Supervise legal assistants.
• Examine legal data to determine advisability of defending or prosecuting lawsuit.
• Evaluate findings and develop strategies and arguments in preparation for presentation of cases.
• Gather evidence to formulate defense or to initiate legal actions, by such means as interviewing clients and witnesses to ascertain the facts of a case.
• Prepare legal briefs and opinions, and file appeals in state and federal courts of appeal.
• Search for and examine public and other legal records to write opinions or establish ownership.
• Confer with colleagues with specialties in appropriate areas of legal issue to establish and verify bases for legal proceedings.
• Perform administrative and management functions related to the practice of law.
• Work in environmental law, representing public interest groups, waste disposal companies, or construction firms in their dealings with state and federal agencies.
• Probate wills and represent and advise executors and administrators of estates.
• Act as agent, trustee, guardian, or executor for businesses or individuals.
• Help develop federal and state programs, draft and interpret laws and legislation, and establish enforcement procedures.

Technology Skills

• Accounting software - BQE Software BillQuick; Fund accounting software ; TimePro Legal Software TimePro; TimeSolv Legal (see all 10 examples)
• Analytical or scientific software - Convex FactLogic; Direct Hit Systems THREADS
• Calendar and scheduling software - Compugov DocketView; CompuLaw Vision; Levare Center Court
• Content workflow software - I-many Contract Management
• Data base user interface and query software - Abacus Data Systems AbacusLaw; LexisNexis CaseMap; Thomson Elite ProLaw; WorthMORE Software CaseWORTH (see all 52 examples)
• Data mining software - Google Analytics
• Desktop publishing software - Microsoft Publisher
• Document management software - Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat ; Microsoft Office SharePoint Server MOSS; Thomson West Cowles Estate Practice System; WealthCounsel WealthDocs (see all 23 examples)
• Electronic mail software - Catalyst Repository Systems CatalystDR; Catalyst Repository Systems CatalystXE; Microsoft Outlook ; Novell GroupWise
• Enterprise resource planning ERP software - ERP software; SAP
• Information retrieval or search software - Fastcase; LexisNexis Shepard's Citations Service; Thomson West WestlawPRO; Wolters Kluwer Loislaw (see all 5 examples)
• Internet browser software - Web browser software
• Office suite software - Corel WordPerfect; Microsoft Office
• Presentation software - IDEA TrialPro; Microsoft PowerPoint ; Verdict Systems Sanction; Visionary Legal Technologies Visionary Professional (see all 5 examples)
• Project management software - Canyon Solutions Jcats; Customer Expressions i-Sight; Legal Files Software; Virtual Case Management (see all 6 examples)
• Spreadsheet software - Microsoft Excel
• Tax preparation software - Tax software
• Time accounting software - Equative TimeLedger; Sage Timeslips
• Word processing software - Microsoft Word ; ProCAT Denoto

Tools Used

• Compact disk players or recorders - Compact disk CD recorders
• Desktop computers
• Digital video disk players or recorders - Digital video disk DVD recorders
• High capacity removable media drives - Universal serial bus USB flash drives
• Liquid crystal display projector - Liquid crystal display LCD projectors
• Notebook computers - Laptop computers
• Optical character recognition systems - Optical character readers
• Overhead projectors
• Personal computers
• Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers - Personal digital assistants PDA
• Photocopiers - Digital photocopiers
• Scanners - Computer data input scanners

Knowledge

• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Skills

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
• Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.

Abilities

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
• Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Interests

• Interest code: EI
  • Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
  • Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
  • Artistic - Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Work Context

• Electronic Mail - 100% responded “Every day.”
• Indoors, Environmentally Controlled - 100% responded “Every day.”
• Telephone - 96% responded “Every day.”
• Face-to-Face Discussions - 94% responded “Every day.”
• Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results - 81% responded “Very important results.”
• Letters and Memos - 83% responded “Every day.”
• Frequency of Decision Making - 78% responded “Every day.”
• Contact With Others
• Importance of Being Exact or Accurate
• Freedom to Make Decisions
• Spend Time Sitting
• Time Pressure - 63% responded “Every day.”
• Responsibility for Outcomes and Results - 66% responded “Very high responsibility.”
• Frequency of Conflict Situations - 11% responded “Once a month or more but not every week.”
• Work With Work Group or Team - 57% responded “Very important.”
• Consequence of Error - 60% responded “Extremely serious.”
• Deal With Unpleasant or Angry People - 54% responded “Every day.”
• Coordinate or Lead Others - 22% responded “Very important.”
• Structured versus Unstructured Work - 39% responded “A lot of freedom.”
• Deal With External Customers - 36% responded “Extremely important.”
• Duration of Typical Work Week
• Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions - 19% responded “Never.”
• Level of Competition
• Public Speaking - 54% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
• Importance of Repeating Same Tasks - 18% responded “Not important at all.”

Education

Percentage of Respondents	Education Level Required
68%	Professional degree
31%	Doctoral degree
1%	Post-doctoral training

Work Styles

• Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
• Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
• Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical.
• Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
• Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
• Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
• Self Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
• Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
• Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
• Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
• Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
• Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
• Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
• Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
• Social Orientation - Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
• Innovation - Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.

Work Values

• Recognition - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer advancement, potential for leadership, and are often considered prestigious. Corresponding needs are Advancement, Authority, Recognition and Social Status.
• Achievement - Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
• Independence - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.

Wages & Trends

• Median wages (2017)
  • $57.33 hourly, $119,250 annual
• Employment (2016)
  • 793,000 employees
• Projected growth (2016-2026)
  • Average (5% to 9%)
• Projected job openings (2016-2026)
  • 40,700