To build a successful career in law, there are certain core legal skills that every law student should have. Legal positions of lawyers may vary in terms of responsibility and scope, but the impact of these skills remain unvarying and persistent on all aspects of the legal profession.
The best colleges of law in India ensure their students are skilled in the following abilities so their journey as future lawyers and lawmakers is notable, productive, and transformative for the Indian society. Here are the 10 key skills you need to develop for a victorious career in law:
#1 Fluent Verbal Communication
In the legal profession, good command over spoken language is fundamentally important. Oral communication is a tool that allows lawyers to advocate a cause or a position with conviction. To convey legal information in a logical manner, lawyers need to communicate fluently. Their verbal stance should be clear, concise, and persuasive. Clients expect lawyers to make logical use of legal terminologies while speaking and, at the same time, be keen listeners.
#2 Superior Writing Skills
Lawyers have to create legal documents in various formats. Writ petitions, court application, power of attorney, sale deed agreements, and licensing contracts are some of the common legal documents that every lawyer should be able to draft precisely.
To master the skill of writing great legal documents, lawyers must practice:
- Understanding audience/client personas
- Identifying and using suitable action words
- Writing persuasively in the passive voice
- Keeping drafts concise, chronological, and organized
- Editing ruthlessly
With these skills, lawyers can excel in writing – a function integral to nearly every legal position in their career.
#3 Logical and Analytical Rationale
Reviewing legal documents, analyzing their complexities, identifying pain-points and drawing inferences is a reasoning process that every lawyer must follow. However, the thinking behind this process must be logical. Problem-solving analysis and argumentative evaluation are highly important for practising law. With a structured and deductive rationale, lawyers are able to reach effective and sensible conclusions.
#4 Extensive Legal Research
Legal research is a core skill that allows lawyers to support and validate their conclusions and arguments. For thorough and extensive research, legal professionals should use proper citations, incorporate the techniques of statutory interpretations, integrate legal authorities, and deep-dive into legal research database software and other credible applications available online.
#5 Coherent Client Service
For effective client service, a lawyer needs to be more than persuasive and empathetic. Using positive language, drawing inferences for actions, and adapting to the client’s expectations helps lawyers in keeping their clientele satisfied. With self-control, patience, and a responsible approach, lawyers can secure higher professional success through an increasing client base in their careers.
#6 Well-versed In Technology
Technology is transforming the Indian legal landscape. Best law colleges in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and several other cities are enabling their students with legal practice-related software applications. To become proficient in legal research, lawyers are now trained with litigation support software, document management systems, and electronic discovery processes.
#7 Substantive Knowledge on Law and Legal Procedures
It is obvious for clients to choose lawyers showcasing great amount of knowledge on legal proceedings, acts and laws, and other legal entities. This knowledge encompasses the differences between local, federal, and state court procedures, the evolution of law principles, and the updated glossary of relevant legal terminologies.
#8 Initiated toward Teamwork
Secure lawyers are not scared to collaborate with colleagues to attain their legal goals. Teamwork is a key trait of a successful legal practitioner; who shares and coordinates information, builds relationships with experts, staff, vendors, etc., and contributes to the legal system by voluntarily participating in meetings and conferences.
#9 Time Management
A lawyer is essentially a multi-tasker. With a strong ethic towards time management, legal professionals must be able to meet deadlines, manage court hearings and legal calendars, generate maximum productivity during billable hours, and juggle competitive activities.
#10 Organization
Lastly, every lawyer should be good at managing data and documents. The skill of organizing large volumes of information into proper files, logical categories, and hierarchical folders is essential in almost every profession, but more importantly in legal. Unrelated information needs to be filtered out with a well-structured data catalogue. These skills enable lawyers to use technology applications for managing case files efficiently.
To develop mastery in these skills, keep practising them to the fullest. The more you exercise these abilities, your legal career becomes more secure and successful.
