Public service · Leading & Selling
Lawyer: what the job actually is
Applying the law to a real person's problem, in writing or in a courtroom, with a licence that makes you answerable for the advice.
Published Last reviewed How we research and correct this
The work
What this job actually is
- Advising people and organisations about their legal rights and obligations, drafting the documents that record them, and, for some, arguing a case in court.
- Most lawyers spend more time reading and writing than speaking. A good deal of the work is reviewing contracts, researching a point of law, and writing letters and agreements.
- Practice areas are very different from each other: criminal, family, real estate, corporate, immigration, employment, and more. A real estate closing and a murder trial share a licence and almost nothing else.
- Much of the work is about managing people at stressful moments in their lives, such as a divorce, an arrest or a business dispute, and being straight with them.
- You answer for what you advise. If you miss a deadline or a clause, that is a professional problem for you, not just a mistake.
A Tuesday
What a normal day looks like
Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.
- 8:00 — Read the court list and your own diary. Two filing deadlines this week, one of them today.
- 8:30 — A client calls in distress. You listen for fifteen minutes before telling them anything.
- 9:30 — Draft an agreement. The sentence you spend the most time on is the one that will only matter if something goes wrong.
- 11:00 — Research a point of law, reading past decisions and finding that the case you hoped was on your side is not.
- 12:30 — Lunch at your desk with a document that must be reviewed by two.
- 13:30 — Meet a new client who wants to know what it will cost. You explain honestly, and they go quiet.
- 15:00 — Court or a call with the other side. Most of it is waiting, followed by a few minutes of actual argument.
- 16:30 — Record your time in six-minute blocks, because your work is billed by what you can show you did.
- 18:00 — Write the letter to the other lawyer that you will be glad you wrote carefully.
- 19:00 — Leave, usually later than you planned.
Honestly
Who loves this, and who should not do it
The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.
- You like reading closely and noticing the one word that changes the meaning.
- You can argue a position clearly without taking it personally when someone argues against it.
- You can stay calm with people who are frightened or angry.
- You are comfortable being responsible for advice that has consequences.
- You are prepared for a long route in, in return for a licence that few people hold.
- You do not want years of study before you earn a professional income. Several years of university, a licensing process and a training placement come before you practise on your own.
- You dislike long hours. Many firms bill by the hour and expect it, and deadlines can pile up.
- Conflict wears you out. The work is adversarial by design.
- You want to be sure of a good job at the end. Job Bank's Ontario outlook for this group is Moderate, and the training placement can be hard to land.
- You want your work to feel straightforwardly good. Lawyers act for people they do not like and sometimes for positions they would not choose.
The route in
How you actually get there in Ontario
Get an undergraduate degree
Job Bank describes the education as years of undergraduate study followed by a bachelor's degree from a recognised law school. Law schools admit students with many different undergraduate majors, so choose one you can do well in, since your marks matter a great deal for admission.Complete a law degree
Ontario has several law schools. Check the admission requirements of each one for their current entrance requirements, including any admission test they use, since they differ and change.Pass the Law Society of Ontario's licensing process
Job Bank says this occupation is regulated, and that you need to pass the bar examination, complete articling and hold active membership with the Law Society of Ontario before you practise. The Law Society's pages block automated reading, so check lso.ca for the current exams and the training options, which include articling with an approved lawyer and a Law Practice Program alternative.Be called to the Bar and choose an area
Once licensed you can practise in a firm, in government, in a company's legal department, in legal aid, or on your own. Most people pick an area after they have tried a couple.
Where this comes from: Job Bank — Lawyers: requirements in Ontario · Legalline — Lawyer licensing process in Ontario
The money
What it pays in Ontario
Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.
- $32.05
- Low (hourly)
- $65.21
- Median (hourly)
- $112.98
- High (hourly)
Ontario, NOC 41101. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.
Where it is heading
The outlook for the next three years
Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.
Moderate3 out of 5 stars
- Employment growth will lead to a few new positions.
- Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
- There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.
What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.
- 54,600
- people work in this job in Ontario
- 45%
- are women (48% across all jobs)
- 40%
- are self-employed (15% across all jobs)
Source: Job Bank — Lawyers and Quebec notaries job prospects in Ontario (NOC 41101). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.
Before you leave school
Things you can do now
- Take English, history, civics and law if your school offers it. Reading and writing precisely is the whole job.
- Join debate, mock trial or a model parliament. You learn to build and defend an argument and to listen to the other side.
- Sit in a public courtroom for an afternoon. Courts in Ontario are generally open to the public, and it is free.
- Volunteer somewhere that deals with real people's problems. Your marks open the law school door and your experience tells you whether you want to go through it.
Test it
Do this before you decide anything
Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.
Read a real contract and find the clause that bites
About 60 minutes- Find a terms-of-service or a rental agreement that you actually have to follow, such as a phone plan, a gym membership or an app you use.
- Read every word, not skimming, and highlight the three clauses that would matter if something went wrong.
- Write what each means in one plain sentence, and what you would want changed if you were on the other side.
- Notice how long you stayed focused and how you felt at the end.
What it tells you. If you found it satisfying to catch what the words really said, and you wanted to read the next one, the daily work of a lawyer will suit you. If you skimmed after ten minutes and felt relief at stopping, that is the job, and it is worth knowing before years of study.
Better than any article
Questions for somebody who does this job
Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.
- “What do you do on a normal day, hour by hour?”
- “What area of law do you practise, and how did you end up there?”
- “How did you get your articling placement?”
- “How many hours do you work in a normal week?”
- “What would you tell somebody who is not sure whether to go to law school?”
- “What is the part of the job you did not expect?”
Could you own one of these?
The part other career sites never mention
Yes. Many lawyers run small firms or work as sole practitioners, particularly in family, real estate, criminal and immigration law. You will need the licence first and often some years of experience, and you take on the business risk of finding clients and covering your own overhead.
Not sure this is the right list to be reading
Start from yourself, not from the job.
Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.
Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.
If this appeals, look at these too
human resources professional police officer journalist accountant business owner
Read next
University vs college vs apprenticeship What to do after high school Figuring out what fits you All careers guides
Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.