Legal Professions

Types of Degrees Legal Professions Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many legal professions graduations there were in 2019-2020 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Doctor’s Degree	35,034
Master’s Degree	10,164
Associate Degree	5,558
Bachelor’s Degree	4,637
Undergraduate Certificate	2,418
Basic Certificate	2,110
Graduate Certificate	2,072

What Legal Professions Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to legal professions were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Legal Professions Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in legal professions should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Skills for Legal Professions Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to legal professions:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Abilities for Legal Professions Majors

Legal Professions majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Legal Professions Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with legal professions:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers	3.9%	$99,850
Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators	11.5%	$62,270
Court Reporters	3.6%	$57,150
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	5.6%	$133,920
Judicial Law Clerks	5.7%	$53,540
Law Professors	12.3%	$111,140
Lawyers	8.2%	$120,910
Legal Support Workers	3.7%	$58,930
Paralegals and Legal Assistants	14.6%	$50,940
Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers	4.3%	$47,130

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Professions?

The major attracts more women than men. About 70% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of legal professions majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	223
Black or African American	608
Hispanic or Latino	896
White	2,315
International Students	96
Other Races/Ethnicities	499

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Legal Professions, too. About 2.1% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Legal Professions Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The U.S. Department of Education found that students who graduated in 2015-2017 with a bachelor’s degree in legal professions made a median starting salary of $31,900 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $29,500 (25th percentile) and $37,200 (75th percentile).

One thing to note here is that not all of these people may be working in careers related to legal professions.

Salaries According to BLS

Legal Professions majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $54,500 to $121,130 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Legal Professions

Some degrees associated with legal professions may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to legal professions have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.8%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	10.2%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	8.1%
Some College Courses	6.3%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	12.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	11.3%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	4.0%
Master’s Degree	2.7%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	1.4%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	18.0%
Doctoral Degree	23.0%
Post-Doctoral Training	1.3%

Online Legal Professions Programs

In 2019-2020, 997 schools offered a legal professions program of some type. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	341	49
Certificate (2-4 Years)	19	4
Associate’s Degree	652	105
Bachelor’s Degree	107	17
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	433	66
Post-Master’s	43	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	64	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	229	5
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	0

Is a Degree in Legal Professions Worth It?

The median salary for a legal professions grad is $71,420 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 79% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $630,400 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Legal Professions

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to legal professions.

Major	Number of Grads
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting	141,046
Public Administration & Social Service	97,666
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies	72,122
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences	4,411

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By The wub under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.