Law interest fields
How do my career interests link with this field?
Read the statements below and select the statements that apply to you. The more statements that apply, the stronger your interest in this career field.
Law
(Main motivation: Serving and protecting society)
You may be drawn to:
- Applying rules and regulations
- Influencing decisions or behaviours
- Engaging with legal matters
- Persuading others through argument or evidence
- Protecting the rights and safety of others
- Promoting social justice
- Solving complex problems or disputes
Career fields, possible job titles and work environments
The legal field offers a range of career options. Click on the career fields below to read more about each field, possible job titles and work environments.
Careers marked with an * are listed on the National List of Occupations in High Demand: 2024.
This information is a starting point for exploring options related to specific career fields. Be sure to expand your research by downloading our Career Research document and exploring additional resources.
Law
In Law, we focus on applying principles and procedures as determined by legislation. The legal field is diverse and could include specialisation in various areas such as mercantile, criminal and private law. There are many different sub-specialisations in each of these fields, such as conveyancing, entertainment law, labour law, immigration law, intellectual property law, electronic commerce law, family law and environmental law. Additional requirements exist for admission to practice as an advocate and attorney.
Related Job titles
- Administrative lawyer
- Advocate
- Adjudicator *
- Arbitrator
- Associate legal professional *
- Attorney *
- Case manager
- Commercial rights manager
- Compliance officer
- Compliance specialist
- Conciliation and arbitration commissioner
- Court clerk/deputy court clerk
- Court operations director
- Court specialist
- Courtroom clerk
- Family advocate
- Judge
- Intellectual property practitioner/lawyer
- Law clerk
- Legal administrative officer
- Legal advisor
- Legal assistant
- Legal manager *
- Legal researcher
- Legal secretary
- Legislation facilitator
- Legislator
- Magistrate
- Maintenance officer
- Master of the High Court
- Mediator
- Negotiator
- Paralegal *
- Patent attorney
- Public prosecutor
- Registrar
- State attorney
- Trademark attorney
- Tribunal member
Possible work environments related to law
- Courts (eg Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Appeal, High Court, Labour Courts, Divorce Courts, Land Claims Court, Maintenance Courts, International Criminal Court (ICC)
- Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
- Government institutions
- Legal firms
- Legal departments of banking institutions, insurance companies, government institutions and estate agents
- Magistrates’ offices
- Other government departments, as a legal officer or legal advisor
- Public and private companies as a legal adviser
- Self-employed (attorneys and advocates)
- Research Institutes
- Local and International NGOs
Find out more about careers in this field
Protection Services and Criminal Justice, Corrections and Security
Careers in this field relate to criminal justice, corrections and security. It includes correctional services, criminology, criminal science, police science and security management.
Related Job titles
- Administrative officer
- Correctional parole officer
- Correctional service officer
- Correctional services manager
- Crime analyst
- Crime information analyst
- Crime prevention consultant
- Criminal intelligence analyst
- Criminal intelligence specialist
- Criminal records centre official
- Criminologist
- Criminologist as offender profiler
- Detective
- Forensic analyst
- Fraud examiner *
- Intelligence analyst
- Intelligence and criminal research specialist
- Intelligence officer
- Investigating officer
- Investigator
- Lecturer (university) *
- Police officer
- Police manager
- Policy analyst
- Private detective and investigator
- Programme coordinator
- Public manager
- Researcher
- Risk manager
- Security consultant
- Security manager
- Security risk assessment manager
- Security services manager
- Security officer *
- Security practitioner
Possible work environments related to protection services and criminal justice, corrections and security
- Correctional institutions
- Courthouses
- Department of Correctional Services
- Forensic investigation organisations (SAPS, private and corporate forensic investigation units, and forensic laboratories)
- Large companies with security, intelligence and compliance divisions
- National, provincial and local government departments
- Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- Research organisations
- Retail and wholesale distributors
- Self-employment as a consultant
- Social services
- South African Police Services
- Specialised security companies
- Research Institutes
- Local and International NGOs
Find out more about careers in this field
- Download the Criminology @ Unisa brochure to learn more about preparing yourself for career opportunities in this field.
- Download the Career research document to learn more about how you could find information related to your career and study choices.
Further career information
