What Skills Are Needed To Work In Law?

A career in law is diverse and ever-changing – that’s what draws some of the brightest talent to the sector year after year. As a practising solicitor or barrister you will constantly use both technical and soft skills on a day to day basis within your career.

As a student, there are many ways to develop skills and experience that you can later use to prove to employers that you are an ideal candidate for their role. Beyond actually having the skills required, it’s also important to know how to audit your own skills to get an accurate idea of what careers are suitable for you, and how likely you are to be considered for individual roles.

This article explains the difference between technical skills (also known as hard skills) and soft skills, before covering what skills are needed to work in law and how you can practice them to maximise your chances of building a career in the legal sector.

What are technical and soft skills?

Soft skills are the personal attributes that are required to be successful in a particular job role. They could be anything from time management, interpersonal skills or even conflict resolution. Soft skills can be judged at interview by the interviewers or recruiters. Interviewers will be watching to see whether you demonstrate skills in listening, communication, and creative thinking in your demeanour, as well as in your answers. Soft skills are transferable – so candidates that have soft skills are considered adaptable and flexible.

Technical skills are the concrete practical skills that are needed in order to perform certain tasks. Acquiring technical skills is a great way to set yourself apart from the crowd in a competitive jobs market. Often, employers may be looking for candidates who have experience with particular computer programmes or working in a specific part of the law industry. These skills are competency based and may be less transferable than soft skills – for example, technical skills honed working in law won’t necessarily be applicable to working in another sector, like accounting.

Skills needed for a career in law

Especially in a career like law, where you will deal with people from all walks of life, soft skills are particularly important. Empathy and listening skills will be important in all sectors of law, but especially within family law or criminal law, where there are high stakes for individuals. On the other hand, commercial law will require other soft skills like commercial awareness.

The following skills are ideal for a legal career:

Commercial awareness

To work in law, you will obviously need an understanding of the law industry and how it works. To build this skill, keep up to date with general and law-focused news by regularly reading articles on suitable websites like law.com, BBC News, the Financial Times.

Analytical reasoning

Working in the legal sector also requires the ability to make connections between thoughts and review arguments objectively. To build these skills, learn to be a problem solver – identify solutions, make inferences, and recognise equivalent statements.

Working under pressure

You will need to be able to remain calm in difficult situations and consistently meet deadlines to build a successful career in law. To build your ability to work under pressure, you should start to manage your own time in assignments or tasks by setting a personal deadline before the official deadline, making time for you to review your work.

Interpersonal skills

In almost any legal sector position, you will need to be able to deal with clients, colleagues, external official bodies, and other legal professionals. To build your interpersonal skills, focus on honing your ability to maintain a positive outlook, be a good listener, and practice empathy.

Written communication skills

In many law professions, you will need to be able to write cases and reports and draft official documents. That requires strong written communication skills. To build your written communication abilities, you can take a course on commercial writing or copywriting to learn to write clearly and concisely. Alternatively, just begin to write more often, even if that means keeping a diary or writing letters.

Creativity

You will need the ability to think outside of the box and see the bigger picture in many facets of a career in law. To strengthen your creativity, see if you can find ways to apply skills and experience from other areas of your life to your work.

Work ethic

When your working hours don’t strictly fall between 9-5, which is often the case in law, you’ll certainly need a good work ethic and motivation to see you through. To improve your work ethic, practice working flexible or long hours to meet the demands of tasks you’re undertaking, whether that’s coursework or an assignment in work, especially when coming up to a deadline

Empathy

You’ll need empathy and sensitivity to manage difficult issues with clients. To build your ability to practice empathy, work on improving your emotional intelligence. You’ll be able to see progress in your ability to identify your own feelings around a particular situation.

Public speaking

In some legal professions, you will need to be a competent public speaker in order to make presentations or speak in court. To build confidence in your public speaking abilities, you can attend public speaking workshops or practice with family or friends.

Teamwork

In many jobs in the legal sector, you’ll be required to work as part of a team. To develop this skill, work with others towards a common goal, learn to delegate or to take on extra work on behalf of a colleague when needed – and remember that teamwork goes both way.

Other legal skills

There are a range of other skills that are useful for anyone considering a legal career including:

• Conflict resolution

• Critical thinking

• Time management

• Adaptability

• Attention to detail

• Research skills

• Customer service

• IT skills