Civil Rights
Becoming an attorney is a difficult process that is expensive and may take a long amount of time. Most people who become attorneys have a specific reason for wanting to be one. For some, the financial gain is the reason, others may like the excitement. Some attorneys however, only have one thing in mind when entering law school and that is bringing justice to the people. A civil rights attorney may succeed at this goal by working with people who feel they have been discriminated against.
• When a person feels that their basic human and civil rights have been violated, they may decide to seek the services of a civil rights attorney. Although a civil rights attorney will have gone through the same educational process that any other attorney has gone through, they will specialize in knowing all about civil rights of individuals. Civil rights attorneys are responsible for defending people that feel like they have been discriminated against in any number of ways. These basis’ of discrimination include an individual being treated differently because of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, gender or age. Civil rights attorneys are supposed to fight for the equal rights of their clients.
• The most common place for discrimination to take place is in the workforce. While it may be difficult to prove that an individual was not hired or had their employment terminated based on any of the discriminating factors, is the job of civil rights attorney to try to prove this is a court of law. Attorneys recommend that their clients keep any record of times they felt discriminated against. This may include introducing documents and pictures into the case. A civil rights attorney will gather all possible evidence. Some employers may wish to settle out of court. If that is the case, it is up to the client to decide if they are willing to settle or if they want their attorney to pursue the case anyway.
• Anyone who feels they have been a victim of racial profiling may decide to seek counsel with a civil rights attorney. Racial profiling is very common and involves the police harassing someone with no legal basis for it. Common occurrences of racial profiling involve police pulling over black drivers that are in predominately white neighborhoods or pulling over white drivers in predominately black neighborhoods. In cases like this, some civil rights attorneys will use similar incidents and cases to prove their client’s claims while looking closely into the actions of both the individual and the police officer to see if there was a justifiable reason.
Civil rights attorneys works with several different types of different cases and often have busy schedules. Financially, the pay is statistically not as high as many other types of attorneys, such as criminal attorneys and corporate attorneys. Many civil rights attorneys go into the civil rights field because they want to make a positive difference in their community.
