Thomas Spohr is a criminal defense lawyer in Australia. In this YouTube video, he gives insight into the day-to-day life of a criminal lawyer and offers tips on how to enter and succeed in the field.
Thomas first discusses what interests him most about criminal law.
What keeps him going is dealing with complex concepts and distilling them down to something that is interesting and persuasive. As a criminal lawyer, you must convince an audience of what the law means in a particular context and what the facts mean when applied to the law.
One of the downsides of practicing criminal law is the lack of time and resources. You will spend a great deal of time on a range of cases but very little time on individual cases. One of the more exciting things about being a criminal lawyer is that you will get to interact with clients at a very junior level.
The best way into criminal law is through experience. While still a university student, you should seek work in community legal centers and other voluntary organizations. They will allow you to do hands-on criminal law work. You should also enter mooting competitions and trial advocacy competitions. These activities not only look good on your CV, but they are also what you will actually do as a criminal lawyer.
