33 Key Attributes Lawyers Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Alex Garcia

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Lawyers represent clients in criminal and civil litigation and other legal proceedings, draw up legal documents, or manage or advise clients on legal transactions. They may also specialize in a single area or may practice broadly in many areas of law.

The core tasks that lawyers are likely to carry out include:

Represent clients in court or before government agencies.
Select jurors, argue motions, meet with judges and question witnesses during the course of a trial.
Present evidence to defend clients or prosecute defendants in criminal or civil litigation.
Interpret laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses.
Study Constitution, statutes, decisions, regulations, and ordinances of quasi-judicial bodies to determine ramifications for cases.
Present and summarize cases to judges and juries.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that lawyers would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for enterprising work environments. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 100%

Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 100%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 99.6%

Analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 95.4%

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 95%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.4%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.2%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 92.6%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 92.4%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 92.2%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 91.8%

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 90%

Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 90%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 89.4%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88.8%

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 87.6%

The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 87.6%

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 87.6%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 87.6%

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 87.6%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.2%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.8%

A willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.4%

Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80.2%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 80%