Lawyers
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.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
- Complex Problem Solving
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Persuasion
Key knowledge
- Law and Government
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Communications and Media
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Advise clients concerning business transactions, claim liability, advisability of prosecuting or defending lawsuits, or legal rights and obligations.
- Interpret laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses.
- Analyze the probable outcomes of cases, using knowledge of legal precedents.
- 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.
- Represent clients in court or before government agencies.
- Examine legal data to determine advisability of defending or prosecuting lawsuit.
- Study Constitution, statutes, decisions, regulations, and ordinances of quasi-judicial bodies to determine ramifications for cases.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Doctoral Degree (77.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (32.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (23.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- License required (national summary): Lawyers must be admitted to the bar: each state's highest court sets admission rules; most states require graduation from an accredited law school and passing the bar exam. source (checked 2026-10-25)
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections; State licensing authorities (curated, see evidence links) · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 81% of occupations compared | 78% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 68% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 88% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 90% of occupations compared | 71% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 75% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 83% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 77% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 83% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.48%
- Contact with others most of the time: 18.08%
- Constant contact with others: 78.44%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 4.25%
- Fairly important: 8%
- Important: 20%
- Very important: 33.17%
- Extremely important: 34.59%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2024
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 13.94%
- Important: 33.27%
- Very important: 33.21%
- Extremely important: 19.57%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2024
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0.14%
- Limited freedom: 3.89%
- Some freedom: 24.53%
- A lot of freedom: 71.44%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2024
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.99%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 62.37%
- Every day: 27.64%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2024
Conflict situations
- Never: 7.3%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 26.52%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 5.74%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 35.73%
- Every day: 24.71%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 22.1%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.65%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 43.45%
- Every day: 6.8%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2024
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 6.51%
- Fairly serious: 10.4%
- Serious: 28.23%
- Very serious: 4.86%
- Extremely serious: 50.01%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2024
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O*NET-SOC 23-1011.00 · SOC 23-1011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8