What does it take to be a lawyer?

That's a complicated question.

First, there are specific skills that lawyers need:

Communication Skills: Whether you are going to be a litigator (a courtroom attorney, who will spend a lot of time talking) or a transactional attorney (an attorney who spends a lot of time drafting documents such as patents, wills, and contracts), you need to be able to express yourself with words.
Interpersonal Skills: Lawyers spend a lot of time working with other people. Whether you are trying to connect with a jury, working on an appeal with a colleague, meeting with clients, or negotiating a settlement with opposing counsel, you will have to be able to work with others.
Attention to Detail: Law is a detail-oriented profession. As a criminal defense attorney, do you know how all of your witnesses are going to respond? Do you have an accurate timeline of events in a car accident? Have you accurately identified the elements you need to prove to win that big civil case? Can you respond to a judge's questions immediately and accurately? In the law, even something as simple as the placement of a comma may determine who wins or loses a case, so you need to be attentive to all these details.
Analytical Reasoning: Lawyers have to have strong analytical reasoning skills. Can you spot the similarities and differences between two sets of facts? Are you able to break down a problem into its component parts? Are you able to spot logical fallacies in someone's argument?
Creative Thinking: While lawyers have to be analytical, they also need to be creative. Lawyers have to develop clever strategies for representing their clients, for persuading judges and juries to their way of thinking, and for navigating a complex legal landscape.
Time Management Skills: Do you get frustrated when a professor takes 10% off your paper because it was two minutes late? That's an understandable reaction. But as an attorney, if you arrive at the courthouse at two minutes after 5 PM, you may miss a filing deadline: your client may lose their case, and you may find yourself sued for malpractice. Really. Lawyers have to be attentive to deadlines. They also have to juggle multiple projects at one time. Even if they only have a single case to work on, that may require drafting motions, negotiating a settlement, drafting proposed jury instructions, and deposing witnesses ... all in a single day.

In addition to possessing these skills, you have to enjoy the puzzle that the law presents. This requires you to accept ambiguity and the lack of black-and-white answers. You have to enjoy reading and hunting down answers. You have to have integrity. And you absolutely must have a strong work ethic, as you will need to tackle the three grueling years of law school and a job that requires, on average, almost 50 hours of work per week.

Does it sound like a huge challenge? Yes! But being a lawyer is also a rewarding job. You get to help other people, stimulate your own intellect, and make a good living. So if you are up for the challenge, go for it!