Archive for January, 2010

Legal Career is Much Beyond Lawyers

One of the most noticeable things about legal career is that it is much beyond lawyers today. In other words, you do not have to be a lawyer to be in the legal market or pursue a law career. Students of law have the options of many other areas of work, not just legal practice. You can definitely go for an alternative career once you have decided about shifting or choosing any other law field apart from your regular practicing. But before you do so, you need to know how an alternative career will affect your entire legal career.

A Harrison Barnes suggests that once you have decided to go for an alternative career, the first thing to do is to assess yourself thoroughly in terms of your own talents, values, interests and passions. Secondly, you should know all the other options available to you. And finally you need to take extensive informational interviews of some of the people related to the optional career you are thinking about. It will help you know that the career suits your interests and the kind of life you wish to live. A Harrison Barnes advices you to plan your long-term strategies step by step and take into consideration your financial requirements as well.

You have to ensure that your legal career does not entirely depend on the options your law school provides and that you are in a position to seek other alternatives at different places. A Harrison Barnes asks you to check legal newspapers and the journals for job positions. You will find employers looking for the people with a legal background. You can do this all by yourself. There is another easy and far better option for you – Legalauthority.com created and owned by A Harrison Barnes, which helps you get the job of your choice. You just need to seek their help and leave the rest to them.

There are many legal fields you can choose from for an alternative career. Read on:

Paralegal

Legal assistants are also known as paralegals. They are trained to assist lawyers in the delivery of services related to law. They work in corporations, law firms and other practice environments under an attorney. Their job is to investigate the facts related to a case, interview witnesses and clients, manage documents, help in hearings and trials, file documents and all other procedures concerning a case.

Paralegals have either a 2-year associate’s degree or 4-year bachelor’s degree. They should have great organizational skills to manage a number of case files related to one single case. They should have good communication skills to interact with the witnesses and the clients. Paralegals should also have great writing and research skills, says A Harrison Barnes.

Legal Secretary

Executive assistants are known as legal secretaries, who perform the essential regular clerical services for the operation of a legal office. They type legal documents, including motions, pleadings, discovery documents, and briefs. They create spreadsheets, schedule depositions, hearings, closings, meetings and site inspections.

They should be aware of the rules related to legal terminology, federal and state court filing along with law office protocol and basic legal procedure. Legal secretaries also need to have typing as well as dictation skills. Of course, they must also have excellent computer skills, too.

Court Reporter

Court reporters are the stenographers who create a word-to-word written transcript that is spoken. With the help of special equipment they capture the sound of words in a phonetic code. They transcribe court testimonial, meetings, legal proceedings, speeches, depositions at a rate of 225 words a minute. Some of the court reporters also perform real time reporting for web-casts and also broadcast captioning.

It takes at least 2 years to become an expert at real time voice writing.

Jury Consultant

In order to win the attorneys, rely on the jury consultants during a high stake jury trial. They provide an insight into juror behavior. They also help attorneys craft trial themes and arguments. Jury consultants have gained popularity with high publicized cases. They can earn thousands of dollars as fees. A very successful jury consultant can easily earn six figure salaries.

Trial Consultant

It is a very new profession. Trial consultants help the lawyers with their technological requirements so that they are well-equipped and at an advantage in the courtroom. They have a background of sociology, psychology and law. They use legal technology to help the jury understand the complex concepts.

In addition to the several aforementioned work areas, there are many other legal fields to choose from says A Harrison Barnes. For instance, mediators, compliance specialist, e-discovery professionals, litigation support professionals and legal nurse consultants. There are really a wide range of career options available in the market.

Credit cards work to make tremendous revenues to credit card companies, banks and retail sales. They do not however work the way they used to work for the customers that temporarily possess them. Many years ago when credit cards were invented and I was a young boy they were a means to finance household items considered necessary. These were things like washing machines and clothes dryers. Credit cards today have such a high interest that they are no longer attractive to purchase such items. Credit cards are primarily now seem to be used to hide and avoid indebtedness.

There is nothing really good about debt. Americans have been convinced by retail salesmen and the banks that to have good credit one must have a solid credit history through credit cards or credit accounts. A solid history means more than the fact that you have consistently made payments on time without failure. The credit card companies and the banks evaluate your spending tends, the debt load over time, your savings history, checking deposit history and actual check spending history. This personal information is felt by these institutions to be proprietary, belonging to the institution because of their unique methods of collection, rather than belonging to the individual who creates this activity.

A credit card, if it is the only credit card you possess, could start improving a portion of bad debt only if you liquidate your current debt in a steady, reliable manner. This will only show a history of reliable payment. As I have already stated banks and credit card companies are not interested only in your reliability, they want the “juice” off of the advanced credit you have obtained. This means they only want you if they can get their interest in a regular and steady manner. This is not the same as pay your debt regularly until it vanishes. They want you to remain indebted permanently but repaying them in a timely manner.

If you are debt free you may not be judged to be a good credit risk. This is the state that underage children and young adults find themselves whenever they attempt to secure a credit card. Simply stated, good credit doesn’t mean what it did just fourteen years ago. The protections afforded the consumer since the Depression of 1929 no longer exist. The Financial Laws passed through Congress in 1992 allowed banks, insurance companies,especially health insurance companies investment firms to handle banking, insurance and investment operations. Laws passed after 1929 had prevented banks from insurance and direct stock exchange trading, likewise insurance companies could not pursue banking operations or stock exchange nor could stock exchange companies pursue insurance or banking operations. This freedom was granted without the subsequent protections of the consumer included in these new laws. There currently exists no single body of consumer law. The private citizen must fight the triumvirate of bank,insurance and stock exchange through the court system.