Practicing law/to practice law is the goal of most law students. In the OP sentence I think that only the noun "practice" may be used. "You need a lot of practice/lots of practice". "Lots of practicing" is used sometimes, but I would say that the two words are not interchangeable: It takes lots of practice/practicing to become expert at any sport.
Yahoo: Let’s talk about peace in this time of war | Column
MSN: Let's talk about peace in this time of war | Column
America is once again at war in the Middle East. Having transited the Strait of Hormuz multiple times as a ship captain, it is a geography that I know well. While our service men and women are engaged ...
the word exercise is very rarely used in this context in the UK. the word exercise was used a little when i was at school, many years ago- we had 'exercise books' in which we would write maths sums etc. however, to me it makes more sense to alwways stick with practice... e.g im practicing to speak english I didnt practice much english yesterday.. hope i havent created any confusion!
- Have you been practicing the song? These two version sound good to me. Were you practicing the song? sounds odd.
I have been practicing - an activity that continues in the general present time, not necessarily at the moment of speaking. You may be at the moment in Uruguay, for 3 days, and say 'I have been living in France since 1995'. On the other hand, you can tell your wife 'Please stop! You've been shouting at me for the past 30 minutes.' and imply she is still shouting right now...