Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Where do I start?

You start by going to college, doing well, and earning your bachelor's degree. When you are a senior, you can take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) and send out applications to various law schools, along with letters of recommendation and college transcripts. Then you have to graduate from law school, pass a bar exam, and get a job. This process will take at least seven years from the time you start college to the time you finish law school and take the bar exam.

(I should add that you do not need to apply to law school as a senior if you don't want to. Many people work for a few years and/or go to graduate school in a different field before applying to law school. When I entered law school in 1990, only about half of my classmates had come straight from college; some had been out of college ten years or more.)

There are relatively few entry-level jobs as criminal defense attorneys for new lawyers. Most new lawyers who want to practice criminal law start as prosecutors. Many choose to remain prosecutors, but many others switch to defense practice after they have learned the ropes.

Re: Where do I start?

First get the required Bachelor's degree in a useful major that teaches critical thinking and writing skills, then apply to law schools.