What do I need to study while in high school to become a lawyer?

Hi there, I think it's great that you are thinking about your goals early on. However, in high school, you have a set curriculum so there are no specific opportunities to get "legal preparation." I'd say that working on careful reading and strong writing is very important -- I agree that these are factors that could make you great in a legal career. Try to think about your school essays and papers as if you are a lawyer, making a strong argument to prove your point -- whether you are trying to prove a point about Shakespeare or global warming. Being a lawyer is about working hard to produce solid research and making strong, written arguments.

Does your high school have a debate team? If not, could you talk to a teacher about making one? That could be a great way to start developing some strong presentation and oral argument skills. But, I'd say just do well in school. Getting into law school is not about having taken the right courses in high school or college; law school admission will be based on having good grades in college. That means that you will want to do all of your school assignments with great care (whether or not you are interested in the class) to produce neat, well organized work consistently.

Also, be open-minded and don't box yourself in too early on. There are lots of careers out there that require strong reading and writing skills. Ask lots and lots of questions of yourself and the people around you, including here on Career Village -- we're here to help to the best extent we can!

Good question! I think that the best skills you can take away from high school that will prepare you for college and later law school are organization, diligence, and public speaking experience. You can practice these skills in many of the regular high school classes. Study skills, test taking skills (both essays and multiple-choice), and being able to clearly organize your thoughts in writing and speaking will also help in the future. I hope that helps!

Academic achievement more than particular field of study will set you up for college and then law school.

Having said that, United States history includes many Supreme Court cases and overviews of how our legal system got to be where it is now, so that will pique your interest if you are interested in law.

I would also read more about what different lawyers do, and if you meet one ask them what their line of work is. The jobs in law you see on television shows are only a small fraction of what is actually "out there" in the real world.

I don't think there's necessarily anything you need to study in high school to become a lawyer. I think it's important to develop analytical and reading comprehension skills so in high school, if you take humanities and math, it'll help you stay a well-rounded individual. For thinking about what classes you need in college, same thing goes. You can major in anything and still go to law school. If you want to know which schools are the top law schools or what undergraduate schools yield a lot of prominent alumni to a specific law school, you can use LinkedIn to find that information! Check out linkedin.com/edu to search for different fields of interest and schools.