Just because someone gets a law degree doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to have a career in law. In fact, in North America, the amount of lawyers far outweighs the market need for lawyers. Over 10% of law students remain unemployed after graduation. So is studying for a law degree still a good career move? Law schools have decided to take this question head on. They don’t want to see their enrollment go down because the prospect of employment as a lawyer is dwindling, and even then, top law firms only have about ten to fifteen job openings annually for new grads. Law schools are trying to reiterate that just because the lawyer field is extremely saturated, it doesn’t mean that a law degree is useless. There are actually quite a bit other careers a person with a law degree can pursue. Lawyers work with people in stressful situations, but even lawyers get stressed and overwhelmed sometimes. A savvy law student who is unsure of a career in law could double up and receive a counseling degree along with their law degree . This unique combo allows the professional counselor insight into the everyday stresses of lawyers and law students with better understanding of their personal conflicts and how to resolve them. Speaking of conflict resolution, a law degree can also enable a person to find work as a professional mediator. Legal knowledge is still highly valued outside of the courtroom, especially during mediation processes. For people looking to change the world in a bigger sense, a law degree can also help. In countries all across the globe, non governmental development agencies are looking for people with legal expertise in far-off countries. Someone with legal sense can be pivotal to understanding local law outside of English law. Better yet, helping the world change in this way is a great move for building a political platform should a law student want to go into politics. President Obama has a law degree , and both Bill and Hillary Clinton have law degrees , too. While it’s not necessary to have a law degree to enter politics, it clearly shows an education to understanding the process and implementation of law. Having a law degree while going into finance can also prove beneficial, especially in the fields of estates tax and small businesses. For those looking for bigger business ventures and dreams, a law degree can help set someone up to handle contracts when starting a business or developing a start-up. It just goes to show, just because someone has a degree in something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be his or her career. However, the opportunities with a degree in law, the question of employment doesn’t seem so daunting upon learning how it really is a tool of all trades. *Image courtesy of Jeroen van Oostrom / FreeDigitalPhotos.net