Can you become a lawyer with a criminal justice degree?

While a bachelor's degree in criminal justice is not required to be accepted to law school, becoming a lawyer is difficult no matter what undergraduate major you choose. It involves:

• Exceptional grades and passing the LSAT. You need to have a stellar academic record and pass the LSAT.

  This is an infamously difficult exam designed to test skills that undergraduate students may not have yet fully developed, such as the reasoning skills in the logic games section. These skills are typically associated with science majors.

• Law school. Once in law school, you are in for an arduous education process. Law students have very little free time and have to dedicate themselves fully to their studies.

  Law school dropout rates are high relative to other schools of higher education and are only rivaled by medical school. Courses in law school include:

  • Constitutional law

  • Ethics

  • Property law

  • Criminal law

  • Lawyer-client relationship

  • Civil procedure

  While you should do your best to retain knowledge from these classes, you must develop a mastery of criminal law to become a lawyer. If you make it through law school, you must pass the Bar exam, which is even harder than the LSAT.

• The Bar exam. The Bar exam requires immense critical thinking when answering the written questions. Philosophy, ethics, and many other esoteric topics may come into play when answering questions on the Bar exam.

  Not to mention you need to know your laws. The exam differs from state to state but usually takes two days to complete.

  You must also make sure that you take the Bar exam in the state where you want to become a lawyer. Otherwise, you'll likely have to take it again. The Bar exam is notoriously difficult, with many law students needing to take it multiple times to pass.

• Post Bar exam. Once you pass the Bar exam, you can seek work as a lawyer, although this is still difficult as jobs at law firms are limited, and the competition is fierce. You may need to start practicing another form of law to gain experience first or apply for an internship.