The life of a lawyer

[burbs]

Currently I am considering Comm/Law or Arts/Law at ANU, Monash or Melbourne.

My question is pretty broad:
What should I be aware of before I set myself on law this year? Not so much how hard it is at uni, more it usefulness in the job market, how to best maximise my chances of a job (do double degrees help more, if so which ones, what about languages...).

How long before lawyers make a decent living? Where is the money at? I'm not doing it for the money, but I would like to know.

Cheers, oh and any other advice like which uni is best etc.

[Russ]

From what I've heard: it's a crowded/competitive job market. If you're the best you'll get noticed but otherwise it's hard work after graduation to work your way up. No idea when the money starts.

[werdna]

I'm also interested to know about this - aiming to get into exactly the same courses as Burberry!

Would love to do the JD at Melbourne Uni, but the cost of even the CSP place is just way out of reach.

[Russ]

Would love to do the JD at Melbourne Uni, but the cost of even the CSP place is just way out of reach.

Really? It's not that outrageous, especially when you consider the government pays it.

[werdna]

Hang on..  How much of the $100,000 JD course does the Govt pay? (I thought students had to pay all of this?)

[Russ]

Where did you get 100k from? Law subjects are ~1k each for a CSP student and it's a 3 year degree so I thought it was closer to 30k?

The government will pay all of that but you have to pay them back eventually

[werdna]

Oops, what I meant was a full-fee placement - an ATAR of 99.00+ (and specific requirements from my performance in an Arts course) would give a full-fee placement. A CSP place would need a 99.90+.. but I assume you can still apply for a CSP once the undergrad is complete?

[Russ]

You absolutely do not need to get 99.9+ to get a CSP place in a graduate degree

[werdna]

I've been looking through the profiles of some lawyers in the big firms, and the majority of them have BA/LLB or BComm/LLB qualifications - I haven't come across any solicitors with postgrad qualifications like a JD or Masters yet.

[chrisjb]

I'm also gonna do law at uni. The only problem is that I'm gonna take a gap year and that would mean that melbourne uni JD would take me till i'm about 25 or 26 to complete... This seems like a long time So I reckon I'll end up settling for Monash Arts/Law or perhaps Deakin Arts/Law depending on my atar so that i'm not there for so long.

I've been looking through the profiles of some lawyers in the big firms, and the majority of them have BA/LLB or BComm/LLB qualifications - I haven't come across any solicitors with postgrad qualifications like a JD or Masters yet.

Isn't it a relatively new model?

[Russ]

How old were the lawyers in the profiles?

he only problem is that I'm gonna take a gap year and that would mean that melbourne uni JD would take me till i'm about 25 or 26 to complete... This seems like a long time

It's really not. 6 years for ugrad + JD compared to 5 years at monash is only one year either way.

[werdna]

Here are a few:

http://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/our-people/professional/brooke-dellavedova.aspx

http://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/our-people/professional/damian-lynch.aspx

http://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/our-people/professional/irina-lubomirska.aspx

[burbs]

Currently I am considering Comm/Law or Arts/Law at ANU, Monash or Melbourne.

My question is pretty broad:
What should I be aware of before I set myself on law this year? Not so much how hard it is at uni, more it usefulness in the job market, how to best maximise my chances of a job (do double degrees help more, if so which ones, what about languages...).

How long before lawyers make a decent living? Where is the money at? I'm not doing it for the money, but I would like to know.

Cheers, oh and any other advice like which uni is best etc.

[werdna]

From what I've heard from teachers, you won't be able to survive in law if you're not passionate about it.. and I mean really passionate. I think in some cases there are even 12-hour working days involved - the workload would be tough I'd imagine, but it'd also be a really rewarding job. I've never given Medicine or Dentistry a thought - apart from the fact that I despise maths/sciences, I'd much prefer sitting in an office all day, instead of doing hands-on work like doctors and dentists.

[tram]

In answer to Azure's question, if you get 99+ you can still apply for a cap place, if you don't get the CEO place you can still fall back on the full fee place.

Also remember that there is fee help which allows you to pay the course fees back once you start working, this still applies for full fee places....