The term advocate refers to someone who advocates on the behalf of another party. Specifically, advocates usually work within the legal system in some capacity, although they may also work outside its parameters in some cases.
Areas That Require Advocacy Jobs
Advocacy jobs are available everywhere and take on a number of different areas, including children's rights, family negotiations, accident or crime victims’ needs, and so on. Every area of the legal profession needs advocates to work on victims’ behalf.
Requirements of Advocacy Jobs
Most formal advocacy jobs require that you have a least some legal experience or that you're in law school and in the process of becoming a lawyer. Oftentimes, law students help tenants settle disputes with landlords. Others may even undertake cases involving individuals who have been wrongly convicted of crimes in the hopes of proving the innocence of these wrongly accused individuals. In such cases, of course, the students are supervised by a law professor and take on the cases as part of the students' training and education to become lawyers.
Depending on the scope of the work required, advocacy jobs may start at relatively modest pay (sometimes very modest pay). It can be quite easy to become an advocate, though. If you're willing to volunteer, for example, you can advocate in any number of areas for any number of individuals, including battered women, abused children, tenants, and so on.
In some cases, volunteer advocacy jobs can lead to paid advocacy jobs based upon experience. These jobs are not necessarily listed in any central location; rather, they're part of a network whereby those who have become legal advocates move into paid positions after a time spent volunteering.
Some areas employ legal advocates specifically to act as mediators in disputes, rather than utilizing lawyers and judges. Oftentimes, for example, advocates work to mediate and resolve legal disputes that may not have the substance go to trial. Lawyers and judges, meanwhile, are often significantly overbooked such that using legal advocates for lesser cases is both cost-effective and time-saving. Minor disputes, for example, that might otherwise have to wait for months or longer to be resolved in the traditional legal system can be resolved far more quickly through mediation instead.
Because advocates work on behalf of someone, advocates always work in partnership with other people. An advocate's job is to work on someone's behalf as his or her representative. However, the advocate also works in tandem with that person so that he or she can determine what needs are to be met and what the person he or she is advocating for wants. For this reason, advocates do not stand alone in making decisions. Rather, they stand with their clients and ultimately must do what their clients want.