For some people, deciding what they want to do with their life is easy. They just know it and then they go do it. The easiest examples of this are in sports. I’m going to guess that Kobe Bryant always new he wanted to be a pro basketball player. Same with Lebron James. It was an easy decision for them, because they were great at basketball.

But for the rest of us, choosing can sometimes be a difficult decision. Thankfully, I’ve already made the decision – I’m a criminal lawyer – but there are many still out there to be made. Take my brother, for example. He’s about to graduate from college and he doesn’t really know what he wants to do with his life. He wants to travel, party, and meet cute girls, sure, but he doesn’t really know what he wants to do professionally.

This post is for you if you are thinking about becoming a criminal defense attorney. I’m going to give you just a couple of ideas on what you can do to explore this as a career.

First things first, just call up a criminal lawyer and ask him or her if you can come hang out with them for a week. Some will say no, but at least one will say yes. To find them, just go to Google. If you live in Houston, say, a quick search for Houston criminal attorney should yield some good results. Call them up and go hang out with them.

After you do that, go to court and just watch what happens. Don’t just watch the trials, but go in and watch an entire day of court. Sit through the pretrial hearings and the sentencings. Sit through the arraignments. Think about whether or not that is something you really want to do.

Third, and finally, go talk to as many Houston criminal attorneys as you can. Ask them all what they think the good things and bad things are about being a criminal defense lawyer. Most of them will be honest with you, and you may be surprised by what you hear. I can tell you right now it’s definitely not as glamorous and exciting as they make it look on television.

After all that, if you still want to pursue it, then I say go for it. You’ll be well informed, you’ll be knowledgeable, and you’ll have some connections in your community when you get out of law school and actually start practicing.