(4) United States district attorney and his assistants.
(5) Attorney General of the United States and his regular and special assistants.
Many lawyers also are connected with various National Government bureaus, such as the Bureau of Insular Affairs, etc.
Practicing lawyers are also often chosen as professors or lecturers in law schools and other schools, such as schools of commerce and finance, medical schools, colleges, and universities. For those lawyers who have a literary inclination there is opportunity for its exercise in writing for law journals, secular magazines, daily press, etc. A lawyer’s training naturally brings him before the people as a leader in movements for public good, if he is at all public spirited. Finally many lawyers have an opportunity for becoming counsellors for the people in general in the practice before legislative bodies considering public interests. Special economic and industrial problems demand for their best solution legal ability of the very highest order.
How Many Years Would It Take Me to Establish Myself in Practice?
The young lawyer may get into practice in one of two ways: First, as an employee; second, as an independent practitioner. In the first case, he usually becomes an assistant in some law office, where he stays from one to five years, possibly permanently by becoming a member of the firm. In the second case, as an independent practitioner, he gets into the practice primarily through the business of his own personal friends, through the advertising that these friends give him to their friends, and finally through his own clients, one client leading to another. The lawyer’s advertising, therefore, is of an indirect nature. Every ambitious young lawyer looks forward to the time when he can get into the profession on his own account, and to this end he should strive at all times to build up a good reputation and to become generally known in his community. One must count on working faithfully for several years, particularly if he is an independent practitioner, before he can enjoy a comfortable income.
How Great a Need is There for Lawyers?
The legal profession is rapidly becoming overcrowded. During the period from 1870 to 1900 the percentage of increase in the number engaged in the practice of law was 180.1 per cent. The following table sets forth the growth and percentage of increase in membership of the professions of medicine, theology, and law from 1870 to 1900:
Growth and per cent of increase in memberships of the professions of theology, medicine, and the law from 1870 to 1900. Statistics of Occupations, Twelfth Census of the United States.
| Year. | Theology. | Medicine. | Law. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1870 | 43,874 | 62,449 | 40,736 |
| 1880 | 64,698 | 85,671 | 64,137 |
| 1890 | 88,203 | 104,805 | 89,630 |
| 1900 | 111,638 | 132,002 | 114,460 |
| Per cent of increase | 154.4 | 11.5 | 180.1 |