Branching out to becoming an educational lawyer means you need some additional resources and a special sense of know-how.
Surrounded by tons of responsibilities, an educational lawyer is an expert in multi-disciplinary areas including families and children, anti-discrimination, constitutional, disability, employment, and copyright law, and the list goes on. Their role is not only to be qualified in the above-mentioned areas but also to represent teachers, families, students, academic institutions, etc.
An educational lawyer has several prerequisites that will be mentioned as follows:
Educational Requirement
The educational requirement for such a position might be rigorous and take seven years of education in the total beginning from undergrad till post-grade. The undergrad is usually four years, after that, three years of the post-grade law school program is required to qualify and pass the examination to fit the requirements.
There is a variety of areas in which the law student can qualify. A major in English is one of the areas chosen to qualify for public speaking purposes, rest include major in history, government, mathematics, arts, etc. However, sometimes it is necessary to work as an essay writer for academic subjects after doing college, and an educational degree pre-requisite.
It’s not necessary to qualify in the under-grade program specifically in the field of law, to prepare for the best in educational law, courses like child development, family law, educational theory, etc. can be done to understand deeper the cases of clients as required.
Post-Grad Requirements
Post-Grad program, as discussed earlier, is a three years program after which a doctorate is received known as JD or Juris Doctor degree. A Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is required for admittance in any law firm. Hence, for such testing, the proper study is required to qualify for the test and get a license to practice the law.
After admittance to a law school, the students have a variety of options for courses to choose from. These include contracts, constitutional laws, legal writing, etc. Courses such as child’s law, educational law, family law, Constitutional law, administrative law, disability law, employment law, civil procedure, etc. can help specialize in different areas and can better help understanding educational law. However, a joint degree program can also be done to study both the law and education.
Even after getting a license, an educational lawyer must keep his education current, understanding the new rulings and new development to practice their relevance. Maintaining a high-profile license require that lawyers should practice the educational courses regularly for currency in the field (commonly known as CLE).
Job Industry
There are different areas on which an educational lawyer can focus. For example, a person choosing a school safety can better help in ensuring that the school under his jurisdiction follows the proper Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and advocating for those students, who have been expelled. A person working for the government can help in defining and refining the policies and procedures for the government. A person specialized in public speaking and civil rights can cover the areas of freedom to speak, liberty, freedom of religion, overcoming abuses, etc.
An educational lawyer, similarly, can better be in the area of educational reforms through the creation of policies (both at the state and national level), highlighting harassment and bullying, creating legislation, etc. He can also be in school governance, where the lawyer will guide the students through proper counseling in schools, and guide educational districts on handling the disputes between the people of the organization, maintaining records, managing finances, and liabilities, etc.
The Experts’ recommendations are that, find a job that is a simple clerkship. This is because you should always seek an experience that you will gain even when you are in a clerkship in educational law. This is also a requirement to work as a clerk student, after completing the first year of law school, under the supervision of a licensed advocate. This develops the credential of a student educational lawyer to get experience in educational law, student’s rights, civil rights, etc.
State’s Bar Exam
Before practicing an educational law, it is required that you must complete the law school program first and then qualify for the state’s bar examination. Take that state’s bar examination for better qualification. There are different requirements for each state’s bar examination, yet, the test takes two to three days to complete the test.
You do not just have to pass the examinations theoretically, but you must show that you fit the requirement of practicing the law both morally and physically. A letter of recommendation has to be provided to the board of examiners as a pre-requisite for a license. You must also pass the background check for the state’s bar exam. An educational lawyer will be in close contact with children and for that, an additional background check might be required by the employer. However, the requirements of such testing differ from state to state and their jurisdictions.
Growth In The Job
Estimated employment growth for that of an educational lawyer is at 6% from the year 2012 to 2024. An educational lawyer will work with other teams and with more experienced people of the same field in the law firm. Most of these lawyers might be selected as a partner when they have gained sufficient experience doing their job, or they might be allowed to open their law firm to practice their skills and expertise. Some lawyers might choose to become more experienced through working for the government or becoming a professor as an educational lawyer.
Conclusion
An educational lawyer being the most prominent figure in our society can have many rigorous roles and educational requirements to reach the position. Yet, they will have to stay current with the changing world of humans. That is why their role has always been so important in today’s world and needs to be explored.
Author’s Bio
“Pearl Holland”, an enthusiast member of the law firm suite is a great and professional member of writing my essay too. She is a very dedicated employee and a great educational lawyer of all time. Her skills in the field of research in law cannot be ignored. She is a top-notch writer in her field, a great researcher, and very hard work putting a member of the firm.
