Careers in Law Enforcement for Law Graduates – Part 1

Page 1

THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH

LawCrossing Feature

Careers in Law Enforcement for Law Graduates – Part 1 Careers in law enforcement have always offered one of the major alternative career paths for lawyers.

There are many people, who in the midway of their

enforcement officers and your knowledge of law

careers realize that they do not actually want to

would stand you in good stead before defense

practice law in the courts. The reasons may be many

attorneys.

and differ from person to person according to their

Your training in law school would make you ap-

individual situations, mindsets and financial conditions.

proach and execute law enforcement related

Such people either drop out of law school and

activities in a totally different manner than done

immediately face their dreams or battles of existence,

by those who do not have that law school back-

or they move their careers ahead in two principal ways.

ground. At least in most cases, unless you are up against a Sherlock Holmes type with exceptional

The first of these is going straight for alternative

talents that lead him/her to do the correct things

careers for those with a JD degree, and the second is to

instinctively.

first gain specialized experience at the courts for some

Especially, knowledge of the law of evidence, and

time and then move on to alternative employment.

what is acceptable as evidence in court and what

There is no telling which path is better, but for those

is not, comes to great help in your career as a

without exceptional talents for law enforcement work,

law enforcement officer.

the second path offers better opportunities, and a

If you join the police academy or related depart-

JD with relevant experience in related legal work can

ments, the mandatory tests on legal knowledge

easily land a job in law enforcement.

are easy to pass with high scores.

The advantages that a JD provides in law enforcement

Mind you, we are talking about careers in law

careers can be summed up as follows:

enforcement here and not jobs like attorney-agents working as special prosecutors in the US Attorney’s

Knowledge of legal writing tremendously helps

Office or, for example, in charge of financial

in law enforcement work because it puts you in

investigations in the FBI. These are actually positions

a better position for all documentation includ-

that require a person to be a lawyer and have a JD.

ing affidavits, and documents related to all law

And such positions always require experience in legal

enforcement activities like searches, arrests,

work and at courts.

interceptions, and etcetera. Warrants and Title 3

affidavits become easier to learn and implement

On the other hand, careers in law enforcement, where

not because you know how to do it, but because

being a lawyer is not mandatory, still makes a JD a

your years at law school taught you the prin-

better candidate for myriad reasons. And here’s a bit

ciples behind the drafting of such documents.

of advice. If you are really thinking of joining a law

If you are in law enforcement, and also have

enforcement career or the job of a criminal investigator,

a JD, then you are on a better level vis-à-vis

it is better to start applying at least one and a half

prosecutors than other personnel on the wit-

years before you graduate.

ness stand. Testifying can be an ordeal for law

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