You might think that it takes four years to get to be a lawyer. While this is accurate, it does not include all the years that a lawyer spends in school. A lawyer spends an estimated 7 years in school getting his Bachelor's degree. This then breaks down to 4 years of undergraduate studying and 2 years more in law school.In addition to law students spending four years getting a Bachelor's degree and going to law school, they spend an additional two years getting a Master's degree. During the last two years they complete the requirements of the bar exam, pass the state bar exam, and become an attorney.
A master's degree is usually followed by a doctorate, and a senior attorney or a counselor. It takes about seven years from beginning legal education to finishing a master's program.Notary Publics are employed by the courts to notarize documents for people. A notary public must have a high school diploma or the equivalent. Some states do not require a notary to have a certain educational degree. Others have requirements that a notary meets before he can become an applicant for the position. There are even some attorneys who do not require any form of college education or any other form of legal work experience to become a notary public.
Law students who want to become bar examiners must work towards taking the bar exam in their state. In most cases they will have to pass the board exam in their state, but they may also have to attend local bars and clinics and sit for the bar exams. Bar examiners "vacation" to other states when they are not working, so it is best to make sure that your state has reciprocity with the particular state where you hope to sit for the bar exam. In most states, all law students must pass the national bar exam before they will be allowed to take the bar exams for the states where they are a resident.
Law students who wish to become prosecutors or judges must work for a state within which they desire to practice law after passing their state bar examination. The state bar examination is administered in each state throughout the States. Students will need to pass all three sets of examinations in order to sit for the national bar examination. There are not a lot of differences between the state bar examination and the national one. Students who pass the state bar examinations then must be recertified every two years in order to remain active in practicing law.
If you have already graduated from law school and are not yet an attorney, you may be unsure what sort of jobs are available to you once you have completed your undergraduate degree. One possibility is to become an educator. Many states require aspiring teachers to sit for the bar exams before they can legally take the state bar exams to represent the state in its educational system.
Some of the positions teachers might find available at this level are school counselors, librarians, and school counselors. If you choose to teach at a school, you can recommend field trips to local areas that you have worked in for law school in order to give students a feel for what life is like as a lawyer in their area.