If you’re a notorious slob and would rather be half an hour late than early, you can give up your dream of becoming a lawyer right away. The credo of all lawyers is deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. All cases you work on are subject to a deadline and must be completed by the specified date. Therefore, you have to be prepared that the working day does not end at 5 p.m. and walks in the forest at the weekend almost always fall flat. A 70-hour week for interns, young professionals and top lawyers is the order of the day.
As the job of a lawyer is in high demand, many more distance education graduates apply than there are vacancies. Very good grades, a complete life structure and internships should therefore definitely appear in your CV. In this conservative industry, grades are the be-all and end-all, so you should have completed at least one honours exam as an honors exam, i.e. with “fully satisfactory”. If you can then convince with very good knowledge of English and another foreign language, that’s half the battle.
Once you are employed, it is also clear that as a lawyer you cannot always choose your cases. In many countries, everyone has the right to a fair trial – including murderers. So it’s entirely possible defence a criminal defence attorney you’ll have to represent criminals even though you know what they’ve done and you think they should be behind bars for life. It is not always easy to come to terms with the fates behind the crimes. You must therefore have your emotions under control and stand up convincingly for your client.
