Kerry Whisnant, an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan and professor of physics at Iowa State University, may be on to something that will greatly impact team winning percentages. Mathematical models that he and other fanatic baseball statisticians have helped produce may accurately predict teams' successes. Whisnant and other members of the Society for American Baseball Research have analyzed...
Attorney
Emily Gubler Clark
Columbia Law School
BS Math BYU
"After graduating from BYU in Mathematics in April 2004, I moved to New York City and started law school at Columbia… (Now) I’ve accepted a job post-graduation with Lewis & Roca in their Las Vegas office."
"Mathematics has been a wonderful preparation for law school. Math was a surprisingly excellent prep for taking the LSAT… Being a math major in law school sets you apart from the majority of law students who are humanities majors, a distinction that proves advantageous upon applying for jobs."
Attorneys act as both advocates and advisors in our society. As advocates, they represent one of the parties in criminal and civil trials by presenting evidence and arguing in court to support their client. As advisors, attorneys counsel their clients about their legal rights and obligations and suggest particular courses of action in business and personal matters. They research, comprehend, and apply local, state, and federal laws and a good background in mathematics will help a student get admitted to law school and assist in the understanding of complicated theoretical legal concepts.
Low-end Salary:
$54,460/yr
Median Salary:
$110,590/yr
High-end Salary:
$166,400/yr Education:
Formal requirements to become a attorney usually include a 4-year college degree in a field such as mathematics, 3 years of law school, and passing a written bar examination. Competition for admission to most law schools is intense. Math and Physics majors outscore all other majors on the LSAT (Law School Admission Test). (Michael Nieswiadomy, "LSAT Scores of Economics Majors: The 2003-2004 Class Update", Journal of Economic Education, pp. 244-247)
Do you love mathematics, but want to pursue a career as a lawyer?
"Professional graduate schools in business, law, and medicine think mathematics is a great major because it develops analytical skills and the ability to work in a problem solving environment. And results on admission tests for graduate and professional schools show that students majoring in mathematics receive substantially higher scores than most other majors."
William Allard & Clark Bray
Duke University, Mathematics Department
Math Required:
College Algebra
Trigonometry
Geometry
Calculus I and II
Finite Mathematics
Statistics
When Math Is Used:
Attorneys use mathematical skills such as problem solving and logic in their everyday business activities. Much like a math problem, attorneys in court need to illustrate step-by-step their knowledge of the case.
Potential Employers:
Approximately 27 percent of attorneys are self-employed, practicing either as partners in law firms or in solo practices. They may also hold positions in government, in law firms or other corporations, or in nonprofit organizations. Most government-employed attorneys worked at the local level.
Facts:
There are many different types of attorneys, such as private attorneys, trial attorneys, corporate attorneys, intellectual property attorneys, patents attorneys, insurance attorneys, environmental attorneys, and government attorneys.
Citations:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos053.htm
http://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~kouba/MathJobs.html
http://www.alec.co.uk/free-career-assessment/career-description-for-a-la...
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes231011.htm
http://www.siena.edu/level2col.aspx?menu_id=530&id=23684
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52353.html
Mon, 11/30/2009 - 22:43
#2
crazy
CRAZY! One of the jobs I would like to take up is attorney/lawyer.That is amazing! I really think that you should make that your profession and by what you said above I believe that you would wonderfully succeed. It seems as though you like to do things like that seeing all of the things you did in college and I wouldn't let the law degree go to waste. If I were you I would go to the link for BLS. Just suggesting things.
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"Students often ask me what to take in school… my answer?... follow your natural interests, but take lots of math!"
Vice President and General Manager for GE Medical Systems
General Electric Company
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My educational background involves math, science, engineering, English, and law, and I have earned my living primarily as a math instructor. I am currently free-lancing in any and all of the above fields. I can specifically think of two ways that math has intersected with law for me:
(1) Patent Law. I took the patent bar exam to become a patent attorney. Not just any lawyer can do so, only those with degrees in science or engineering. You actually don't even have to be a lawyer to prosecute patents or work at the Patent Office. The most in-demand patent attorneys / agents / examiners are those in CS / EE (usually requiring only a BS; no prestigious alma mater required) and the biochemical sciences (usually requiring a PhD). Experience in the industry is highly valued.
(2) LSAT tutoring. I second what I've read on this page. The LSAT is a test primarily of English language literacy, but also plain old logic and common sense. It requires no knowledge of the law whatsoever -- but a math background can provide a huge advantage. Mathematics is the study of logic, the application of rules, and symbolic language, which pretty much covers half of the LSAT. My experience as a math major and math instructor has put me in a great position to understand the LSAT and to teach it well. The fact that I am an attorney and I have scored high on the LSAT makes me that much more credible. The LSAT market shows no signs of slowing down, and LSAT tutoring firms are becoming competitive in their hiring of instructors.
Scot S. Fagerland, Esq.
TheMathGuy.com