Legal · Holland code ECI

Lawyers

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

Also called: Attorney, Attorney General, Counsel, Lawyer, Attorney at Law, County Attorney, District Attorney, General Counsel.

O*NET 23-1011.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $159,670; Middle half earn $102,990 to $221,370. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Doctoral Degree; 77% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 5 of 5; Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +4% · As fast as average; 864,800 jobs in 2024, projected 900,700. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Lawyers".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Interpret laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses.
Analyze the probable outcomes of cases, using knowledge of legal precedents.
Gather evidence to formulate defense or to initiate legal actions by such means as interviewing clients and witnesses to ascertain the facts of a case.
Present and summarize cases to judges and juries.
Represent clients in court or before government agencies.
Select jurors, argue motions, meet with judges, and question witnesses during the course of a trial.
Evaluate findings and develop strategies and arguments in preparation for presentation of cases.
Present evidence to defend clients or prosecute defendants in criminal or civil litigation.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Speaking4.6 / 5
Reading Comprehension4.5 / 5
Active Listening4.5 / 5
Critical Thinking4.5 / 5
Writing4.3 / 5
Active Learning3.8 / 5

Knowledge areas

Law and Government5.0 / 5
English Language4.7 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.0 / 5
Administrative3.2 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.1 / 5
Communications and Media3.0 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic2
Investigative56
Artistic23
Social41
Enterprising75
Conventional60

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

legal service manager · DE Leiter eines Büros für Rechtsdienstleistungen/Leiterin eines Büros für Rechtsdienstleistungen · FR responsable de service juridique
lawyer · DE Rechtsanwalt/Rechtsanwältin · FR avocat/avocate
corporate lawyer · DE Firmenanwalt/Firmenanwältin · FR avocat d’affaires/avocate d’affaires
prosecutor · DE Staatsanwalt/Staatsanwältin · FR procureur/procureure
judge · DE Richter/Richterin · FR juge
supreme court judge · DE Richter am Obersten Gerichtshof/Richterin am Obersten Gerichtshof · FR juge de la juridiction suprême

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Solicitors and lawyers (2412)216,100 employed
Senior officers in fire, ambulance, prison and related services (1163)8,000 employed
Legal associate professionals (3520)57,300 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “法務従事者”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥463,100; Middle half earn ¥353,300 to ¥725,300 a month.
Workers in the category: 7,230; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.33. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (23-1011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test