It’s one of the classic professions that parents would wish for their children, how often have you heard that the best kids in the class should end up as lawyers or doctors and we will take a look at the former of those professions here. But there are differences in what it takes to be a lawyer in different parts of the world, so let’s have a quick look and comparison as to what it takes to get into this much-revered career in different countries.
USA

The first step in the USA is to get a bachelors degree, the common term here for an undergraduate degree. Once that is obtained you will need to go to an accredited law school as a postgraduate, this is really where you are going to learn all about the law with the look specifically to becoming a practising lawyer. With the US being the highest earning nation for lawyers it’s no surprise that it’s incredibly competitive and so is essential to thoroughly prepare for starting a law programme.

Canada

Canadian Law is not completely different from that in the USA and the route to becoming a lawyer in Canada is similar but a little different. You must specifically do an undergraduate degree called ‘Pre-Law’ than to study at any law school you have the same pre-entrance exam, the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) before studying a degree at Law School before becoming qualified.

UK

Again the UK is different slightly from the previous two examples, you have to sit an entrance exam before entering into the undergraduate law degree, this is the LNAT and given that your study and whole future career is on the line this early on most students take a fair amount of LNAT Practice before even making an application. Then after the undergraduate degree, it’s a postgraduate course and a period as a trainee solicitor (lawyers are called solicitors in England).

Australia

In Australia there are some differences yet again, you have more than one route into law here. You need an undergraduate degree, but not necessarily in law and then study an LLB to get your law degree or you can get a Juris Doctor (if you have an undergraduate degree already). You then have a choice of doing a Graduate Diploma of Legal Education, which is a post-graduate course or alternatively you can get a course of supervised training at a law firm. Once this is done you need to apply for admission to Roll of Lawyers and then apply for a practising certificate.

Rest Of The World

Obviously, there are many other countries we’ve not even begun to touch on and there are plenty of choices, many countries having more lawyers per head of population than others which makes it easier to get into the profession. Or there is the option of international law, taking in multinational contract law or international war crimes if you are aiming high, With the law being such a wide area and the world is so large there are countless opportunities.