A legal analyst is a lawyer who thinks about legal issues and creates written communications that summarize legal issues and discuss various solutions to legal problems. Legal analysts work for law firms, governments, and private organizations, and their responsibilities range from analyzing ballot language and describing it in plain language for voter information guides to assisting organizations in filing legal challenges to laws they believe are unconstitutional.
Legal analysts work as part of a legal support team and are rarely visible to the general public. They must have extensive legal skills, including jurisprudence knowledge, as well as excellent written and oral communication skills in order to interact successfully with members of the company they work for. Legal analysts study current and proposed legislation, published court opinions, and other legal materials.
Legal analysts who work for the government can provide legal opinions on the legality of various activities, sound legal policy recommendations, discussions of proposed laws, and a variety of other services. Government legal analysts can serve in a variety of roles, ranging from analyzing cases for judges in the judicial branch to assisting legislators in the drafting of legislation. Analysts who work for law firms can assist in the development of legal cases, the search for legal loopholes that may be of interest, and the investigation of the firm’s activities.
If a legal analyst works for a private organization, he or she may have more opportunities to interact with the public and become more well-known. A group advocating for women’s rights, for example, might ask its legal analyst to lead a press conference or issue an opinion on legal issues. Legal analysts can also be hired media organizations to provide analysis for publication or broadcast, in which case they may become well-known in the legal community.
A legal analyst’s salary varies depending on his or her level of training and the location where he or she works. Employees of private firms and media companies make the most money, while government legal analysts and advocacy group employees make the least. The higher an analyst’s salary and benefits, the more training and experience he or she has. As a result, people who want to make a career out of legal analysis should invest in a reputable training program and take advantage of internship opportunities with reputable organizations and agencies.