12:56 PM -- Kim's attorney, Shawn Holley, tells TMZ ... Kim's been authentically interested in the law for a long, long time and adds she's truly interested in being a justice warrior.

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Check out the vid ... Holley tells us Kim was much more involved in helping Alice Marie Johnson get freed than people might think.

Kim Kardashian wants to take the law into her own hands ... by becoming an attorney, and she's aiming to get it done within 3 years.

Kim revealed her legal aspirations -- saying she's actively studying to be a lawyer -- in a Vogue profile. She's not attending a law school, but she does have a master plan to take the bar exam by 2022.

In order to prepare for that, she has begun a 4-year apprenticeship at a San Francisco-based law firm ... which she got started last summer with support and consulting from Van Jones and attorney Jessica Jackson.

Her reason for embarking on this difficult road ... Alice Marie Johnson.

As you know ... Kim played a huge role in getting the ex-con released early by lobbying President Trump and even showing up to talk to him face-to-face.

Well, turns out that experience had a bigger impact on Kim than some might've expected. She says, "I’m sitting in the Roosevelt Room with, like, a judge who had sentenced criminals and a lot of really powerful people and I just sat there, like, Oh, sh*t. I need to know more."

Kim adds, "I would say what I had to say, about the human side and why this is so unfair. But I had attorneys with me who could back that up with all the facts of the case. It’s never one person who gets things done; it’s always a collective of people, and I’ve always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society."

Interestingly enough, Kim's been told in the past by her own attorneys that she's got the chops to be a real deal attorney. Looks like she's taking that to heart. Of course, she'd be following in the footsteps of her father, Robert Kardashian.

For the record ... Kim does NOT need to go to law school in order to become a licensed lawyer. She just needs to pass the bar, which she's studying to do right now. Good luck!!!