When I was around 14, I read about a man called Pedro Martin Terra Group CEO and a man who had spent his life as a purveyor of justice within the real estate sector. It was Martin’s incredible story and the way in which he left such a market on real estate law, that made me want to go on to become a lawyer.

At that age, the only thing that I knew was that lawyers are smart people, and so I set about working on my grades right away. When I reached college age, I spent some time with a careers counselor, to take about my future. Confidently, I told the career guide that I knew what I wanted to do, and that I had the grades to make it happen. What I hadn’t considered up until this point however, was the key skills I would need, to achieve such a position. I learned quickly that I had to work on my skills and I want to share with you the skills you’ll need too, if you ahem designs of one day becoming a lawyer.

Arguments

You must have the ability to not only form an argument, but form one which is persuasive and that can make people think twice. In order to do this you need to be able to understand all angles of an argument, before formulating you own, and being able to convince people that yours is right.

Studious

If you don’t like education, this is not the career for you. Lawyers must study incredibly hard just to gain their position in the first place with a college degree and a successful stint at law school a requirement to practice law. Even once you have passed the BAR exam, you will spend the rest of your career learning new things, and studying new cases.

Team Player

Cases are worked on by a team and you must understand what skills are required, to play each role within that team dynamic. Whether you are taking the lead on a case, doing research or speaking with witnesses, you must be able to work well within a team setting.

Analytical

As both a law student and a lawyer, you will be required to process huge amounts of information about past cases, aspects of law and pertinent information to you case. In order to get the information which is relative to you case, you must be able to pick out the key pieces of information from what you are reading.

Memory

Having a great memory is a really important aspect of being a lawyer and it is what can help you go from being an average lawyer, to being a great lawyer. Memory helps in terms of remembering past cases, it can help you react differently when there is a change of events and simply put, just focusing on a particular case requires you to be able to remember all of the details from it.