What do Lawyers Spend their Time Doing?

If you have ever considered law as a profession or educational pursuit, you may know that the TV shows don’t accurately portray the job most lawyers have. In order to learn about lawyers and what they do, I decided to ask one. Michelle Wickam works as an attorney for Pinnacle Security, and told me about what lawyers really do all day. She said they mostly look at and organize documents.  Here is a chart of what lawyers do.

10% of the Day Traveling
About 10% of the day is spent traveling as a lawyer. Lawyers must drive to court, which can often be as far as 30 miles away. In order to do all of the busy work and communication required to connect with people, a lot of travel is required. Not everything can be sent in an email.

20% of the Day Communicating
About 20% of a lawyers day is spent interacting with others, whether it is an intern, a partner, sitting in a meeting, answering phone calls from clients, much of the day is spent talking to others. A lot of jobs now take a lot of communication, and sometimes we don’t realize how much time is spent talking to people.

30% of the Day Writing and Writing
About 30% of the day is spent emailing as a lawyer. Many lawyers sit at the computer and put together a letter to send to someone important or a business. Lots of the time it is necessary to email people or companies as well. Another thing that is often written by lawyers, is a brief, which is a summary prepared to be given in a courtroom.

40% of the Day Dealing with Documents
The other 40% of the time, a lawyer is going to be reviewing, organizing, gathering and processing documents. It is their job to be very through with all of the information they have access to. This takes a lot of time. And you thought studying for finals was bad.

So there you go, that is what lawyers do. It is not accurate for every lawyer, but is the average. Some types of lawyers spend more time in court, and others spend less. If you thought you knew what being a lawyer was all about, well now you know. It may not be quite as glamorous as TV and the movies portray, but it is good money for a lot of people.

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