Legal and Lawyers

Lawyers have been around for a long time, and the profession is as old as almost any in civilization. Lawyers usually specialize in any number of sectors in the legal arena, from real estate, to corporate law, to criminal prosecution or defense, and many more. Later jobs in the IT sense, such as those you'll find in legal IT jobs, though, are relatively new.

That's because IT, or information technology, itself is relatively new as a profession. And just as with other areas in IT, IT needs legal protection and direction, too.

Which legal IT jobs can you do?
In general, legal IT jobs focus on those the IT lawyer would do, although of course, you can also work as a paralegal for an IT lawyer.

Getting legal IT jobs:
To be an IT lawyer, you'll need to go to college and specialize in prelaw, then go to law school and focus on information technology as your specialty. Most IT lawyers also must get what's called a JD degree (Juris Doctor) and a Master of Laws (LLM) degree as well. These are advanced degrees, somewhat like getting an MBA, for example. You will also need to be admitted to the bar in your state.

As an IT attorney, you will handle matters related to IT. You may, for example, negotiate, interpret, or draft agreements for software maintenance and licensing, you may do agreements for IT consulting, you may get involved in legal issues for website hosting and development, you may get involved in legal issues for e-commerce, and/or you may handle dispute resolutions related to any of these things, including Internet domain name portfolio issues for clients as applicable.

The information technology sector is so diverse that information technology lawyers and other IT jobs in legal area are not as distinctly broken out as in some areas. In addition, new information is being added to the sector all the time. For example, you may also manage business-to-business and business to consumer arrangements for things like IT outsourcing, hardware or software supply, and/or implementation agreements for these things. You may contract for a website developer or consultant for projects that have been on the Internet, and you may also provide expertise for confidentiality agreements, nondisclosure agreements, and the like. Data protection, too, is important when one works online, such that you may be handling contracts for clients like Internet service providers who need to protect the data of their customers, and so on.

As with other areas of the law, you'll also need to keep abreast of changes in IT laws and keep clients advised of these changes, so that you can protect your clients' interests and make sure that they don't break any laws that they may not be aware of; this can be especially problematic in the fast changing world of IT.

Getting legal IT jobs:
After you've done the proper schooling, you can check with your school's career counseling department to find employment; in addition, many law firms also recruit top-notch candidates to work in their firms after graduation. You can also work internships while you're in school to make sure you get the experience necessary to show prospective employers that you've already been "on the job," so to speak, and therefore will be more attractive to employers.