The degrees of specialization in law are astounding – from being a tax attorney to specialty litigation lawyer. Personality type is very influential in guiding a young law student into certain types of practice. A great many forms of law require little if any actual time in a courtroom, nor are they adversarial in general. Often times, the duties of a tax attorney or bankruptcy lawyer are more studious in nature – requiring intense attention to language and protocol. However, certain types of law do involve a degree of adversative circumstances. These cases are handled by a variety of trained litigation attorneys who must each have a bit of an argumentative nature as well as attention to detail.
Lawsuits are the nature of a litigation lawyer’s practice and training. When a student decides upon a litigation path, working in a courtroom and the plaintiff-defendant nature of lawsuits are initially the primary focuses. Courtroom etiquette and procedure have to be relatively second-nature, as well as possessing or developing a tenacious attitude toward success for your client, because as a general litigation lawyer, the complexity of the cases the attorney will be undertaking can sometimes be staggering and require extensive research on incredibly difficult subjects. A student, even at the under-graduate level, must possess the ability to become an investigator – to research and hunt for tiny details no law school textbook can teach about.
Knowing the law and then applying it to very specific circumstances for a client – or as is often the case – a group of clients, is the main ability law school professors try to build in their students. This basic process is essential for a litigation lawyer as the attorney must not only prepare the written documentation for a lawsuit, but also be prepared to enter the actual courtroom and present a compelling argument.
It is crucial that in any law student there be a contentious streak – the gravitas to formally interrogate or just simply question a witness effectively and to the best benefit possible of your client. Litigation lawyers are taught to make a systematic examination of all the facts in a case so they are fully armed, and therefore fully confident in their handling of each witness or piece of evidence. Many students will eventually transition to another form of law that is less contentious due to the requisite personality requirements of litigation law. Some people are simply not disputatious in nature and therefore gravitate into the more scholarly and meticulous aspects of the law.
