Summary: Being a practicing attorney is not the only option for someone with a legal degree. There are over 60 different careers where having a law degree is beneficial.
See “60 Nontraditional Jobs You Can Do With A Law Degree (And Should Strongly Consider Doing)” for the full list of jobs.
You have your law degree but now what? Maybe you just graduated from law school and haven’t received a job offer yet or have started working at a law firm and realize that being an attorney is not as exciting as you thought it would be. Well you are in luck because there are still plenty of job opportunities where a law degree will come in handy even if you aren’t practicing.
Attorneys are quite often judged on the amount of hours they work and not always the quality of work they produce. The career is competitive, making it difficult to get to the top where there is financial success. Usually attorneys are working for the pay and not necessarily based on their personal beliefs about a case. They spend tedious hours staring at computer screens and books. If these characteristics of what an attorney actually does don’t excite you then below are a few examples of other careers where your legal knowledge will still pay off.
Being a politician requires understanding research and personal testimonies and using what you learn to talk to others. Politicians are all about interacting with others instead of reading books. When you are a politician, you have a better chance of making a difference among large amounts of people than you would as an attorney.
Perhaps you enjoy teaching and would rather be a law professor. Law professors do a lot of research about the law and then write about it. You get to assign cases for students to hear and try. You can interact with students that are eager to learn about different cases and how they can be the best at their job.
A private judge allows someone to skip the process of becoming a court judge. Private judges conduct settlements discussions that deal with things such as marital separations or other cases where those involved do not want to hire attorneys.