Lawyer in 204: Rome's Lex Cincia bans paid advocacy

How many years does it take to become a lawyer? In most common-law countries it's five to seven years: a three-year undergraduate law degree, or a US-style JD after an unrelated bachelor's, plus one to two years of vocational training and supervised practice before bar admission. Civil-law countries often add a mandatory post-degree clerkship, so the full path to genuinely independent practice frequently runs seven to nine years.

What is the difference between a barrister and a solicitor? Do you need a law degree to practice law everywhere? No. A small number of US states, including California and Vermont, still allow candidates to sit the bar exam after several years of supervised 'reading the law' in a practicing attorney's office instead of law school, and England's Solicitor Apprenticeship lets school-leavers qualify over six years while working. Most countries, though, require an accredited law degree.

It varies enormously by country and setting. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median annual wage for American lawyers at $145,760 in May 2023, ranging from roughly $66,000 for the lowest-paid tenth to over $239,200 for the highest-paid tenth; first-year associates at major US firms now start above $225,000, while public-interest and small-town lawyers earn far less.