By Sunil Gupta
Edited by Madhavi Roy, Senior Editor, The Indian Economist
A Lawyer is a specialist in legal issues, who provides legal assistance to individuals and legal entities. A Lawyers employment can not be combined with commercial activities in order to avoid conflicts of interest. His main task is an impartial legal protection of the client. There are a number of activities, among which are administrative and criminal cases. The latter is considered the one demanding greater responsibility, because the fate of a person usually depends on a decision of the court.
The task of the lawyer is not only in the preparation of the legal framework for the protection of the client. Apart from that, he must convince a jury, which is considering the process from the standpoint of ordinary citizens. Often the hearing is accompanied by a fierce debate on both the sides.
The lawyer is involved not only in the suit, he starts working at the stage of investigation itself. Responsible professionals closely monitor all changes in the case. Even if the client is in a detention facility, the lawyer does not cease to turn out the evidence base. This profession requires a strong character because sometimes lawyers have to deal with cases when the defendant is guilty.
Specificity of the job of a lawyer
The lawyer should know the law perfectly, have a moral responsibility and patience. Besides the knowledge that is necessary for the direct implementation of activities (law proceedings, documentation, and implementation of laws in practice), the biggest advantage of a specialist is his oratorical skills. Cleverly placed accents and statements always give a big advantage to the defendant.
Sometimes people confuse the profession of a lawyer and a jurist. The principal difference lies in the fact that a jurist is working for a company, and represents its interests. In order to become a lawyer, you need to be a graduate in the legal profession, get a professional experience of at least two years, after which each lawyer has to pass various qualifying examinations. Work may be combined with scientific knowledge, teaching as well as art.
The Pros and cons of the job.
Advantages:
– Planning of the schedule. Each lawyer independently determines his workload, performance tasks, determines the cost of his services. They have maximum freedom in time. This is especially important after a protracted litigation. For a full recuperation, people need a minimum of 2-3 weeks off every 5 months, which is unlikely to be real for people of other professions.
– Wages are limited only by working capacity and the authority of a lawyer. But even novice professionals can claim a high fee;
– The job of a Lawyer is considered prestigious and respected in the civilized world. Working in the market for a long time, one must make influential connections;
– The high culture of tax reporting in law firms enhances the confidence of the fiscal authorities. Unscheduled inspections are extremely rare.
– In India, thousands of people want to become successful lawyers, win a huge case and become rich. Despite this, there still are a lot of open vacancies. So, anyone can look for new openings and apply for the job of a lawyer in Delhi or in any other part of the country.
Disadvantages:
People who work in this field say that it is almost impossible to find any disadvantages. The only negative thing is that not everyone can become an authority in the legal services market.
The career of each lawyer depends largely on his professional skills. In order to become a reliable professional and become popular, you need to win several important cases in court, in order to declare to everybody that you are a competent professional. Reputation is a key factor for success in the legal profession.