Prestigious? More prestigious than being the President of Harvard or Yale? More Prestigious than be a brain surgeon? More prestigious than be a Cabinet Level secretary (such as Secretary of State)? More prestigious than be an Ambassador? More Prestigious than being a 'rocket' scientist?
ANYONE can be a lawyer. Heck, go to your County (Courthouse) and I'm sure you will see a bunch of underpaid lawyers there.
All you need is an undergraduate degree on ANYTHING (music, English, Latin, History, etc.).
However, only a handful of people can be Engineers/Scientists/Physicists/Chemists/Geologies. And most are already from Non-U.S.A. nations.
In a nutshell...any good engineer can be a doctor (medicine) or a lawyer. But a great lawyer (or doctor) cannot necessary transition into becoming an engineer.
Engineers MUST have analytical mind. Hard core math/science. While Lawyers and Doctors only need the ability to read and memorize things.