Legal Professions

Types of Degrees Legal Professions Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many legal professions graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Doctor’s Degree	36,426
Master’s Degree	7,113
Graduate Certificate	1,650

What Legal Professions Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, legal professions majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Legal Professions Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• 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

A major in legal professions prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• 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

As a legal professions major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• 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?

People with a legal professions degree often go into the following careers:

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 Master’s Degree in Legal Professions?

This major is dominated by women with about 60% of recent graduates being 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	310
Black or African American	844
Hispanic or Latino	655
White	2,251
International Students	1,793
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,260

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Legal Professions. About 25.2% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Legal Professions Majors Make?

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that legal professions students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a master’s degree made a median starting salary of $51,420 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $45,199 (25th percentile) and $67,154 (75th percentile).

It’s important to note that just because the people reporting these salaries have a degree in legal professions, it does not mean that they are working in a job related to their degree.

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 you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

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 careers associated with legal professions require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. 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.

Find out what the typical degree level is for legal professions careers below.

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 the 2020-2021 academic year, 993 schools offered some type of legal professions program. 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)	332	57
Certificate (2-4 Years)	19	2
Associate’s Degree	650	112
Bachelor’s Degree	114	18
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	441	66
Post-Master’s	41	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	68	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	228	7
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
Public Administration & Social Service	53,252
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting	13,045
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies	10,452
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences	1,613

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.