A lawyer helps individuals resolve legal disputes. To do so, they may conduct research, write legal documents, argue a client's case before a court, or negotiate settlement terms. A business lawyer is an attorney who focuses his or her legal practice on issues that affect businesses, such as taxation, various types of business transactions, or intellectual property.
Almost all lawyers work primarily from offices on a full-time basis. Most lawyers will have to work longer hours at some point, often in preparation for a case. While the education path to becoming a business lawyer is long, the potential for high income is present. Individuals working for private law firms, especially in the world of business, often make more money than some of their counterparts.

Tasks:

1. Advise clients concerning business transactions, claim liability, advisability of prosecuting or defending lawsuits, or legal rights and obligations.
2. Interpret laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses.
3. Analyze the probable outcomes of cases, using knowledge of legal precedents.
4. Present and summarize cases to judges and juries.
5. Gather evidence to formulate defense or to initiate legal actions, by such means as interviewing clients and witnesses to ascertain the facts of a case.
6. Examine legal data to determine advisability of defending or prosecuting lawsuit.
7. Study Constitution, statutes, decisions, regulations, and ordinances of quasi-judicial bodies to determine ramifications for cases.
8. Prepare and draft legal documents, such as wills, deeds, patent applications, mortgages, leases, and contracts.
9. Negotiate settlements of civil disputes.
10. Confer with colleagues with specialties in appropriate areas of legal issue to establish and verify bases for legal proceedings.
11. Perform administrative and management functions related to the practice of law.
12. Help develop federal and state programs, draft and interpret laws and legislation, and establish enforcement procedures.
13. Work in environmental law, representing public interest groups, waste disposal companies, or construction firms in their dealings with state and federal agencies.

Key skills for lawyer:

• Inquisitive – a good lawyer will possess an inquisitive nature. Curiosity drives a person to probe and ask revealing questions. The inquisitive attorney will peel back the layers of a case, going deeper, asking for more information.
• Problem solving abilities – being a problem solver is one of the root skills of any attorney. People hire lawyers because they either have a problem, or are trying to avoid one. Possessing excellent problem solving skills allows the lawyer to find solutions even when none are immediately apparent.
• Symptomatic reading – attorneys will have to read a great deal of material when they take on a client. It may be court documents, witness testimony, contracts, case law, or a myriad of other text. It is easy for anyone to skim over the information and take it at face value. Unfortunately this can prove detrimental to a client.
• Writing skills – having the ability to write well lays a solid foundation for all the documents a lawyer must write such as arguments, contracts, and legal letters.
• Conversation/articulation abilities – just as writing skills are important, so too are verbal skills. An attorney will find it necessary to shift gears in their verbal communication style. Conversation skills are more than just the ability to say the right words. The words also need to be said in the right manner.
• General investigation/research skills – attorneys have to spend hours investigating and researching information for clients. Attorneys must be able to know how to perform research with speed and accuracy, and confidence in the authority of the source.
• Organization /management skills

Average salary (2013):

The United Kingdom: £44,362 per year
The United States of America: $75,151 per year
Australia: AU$66,894 per year

Qualifications and training required:

Becoming a lawyer usually takes 7 years of full-time study after high school 4 years of undergraduate study, followed by 3 years of law school.