Median Salary: $90,290
Average Entry-Level Salary: $41,750-$64,500
Required Education: B.S./B.A., J.D., Passing State Bar Exam
Growth Rate: 15.9 percent more jobs through 2014
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor; Robert Half International Inc.

If you like to negotiate and are known for your ability to solve problems, law may be the career for you.

According to Hollywood, television shows and movies; all attorneys have high-profile jobs, work in law firms, and pontificate before juries on a daily basis. However, most attorneys don’t spend their lives cross-examining defendants; often, a lawyer’s main goal is to keep clients out of court.

Lawyers practice in a wide variety of settings and many focus on a specific practice area, or areas. According to the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), three quarters of all lawyers practice privately, either in firms or as sole practitioners; most other attorneys work in government-related agencies. However, lawyers also work at law schools as professors, as well as for corporations and public interest groups.

HOW YOU CAN BECOME A LAWYER

Get an undergraduate degree.
Traditionally, students pursuing a law degree graduate with bachelor’s degrees in history, political science, English, economics or business. But the American Bar Association (ABA) recommends that prospective law students not limit themselves to just those areas. Law schools now are receiving applications from undergraduates studying art, science, engineering, and even nursing.