Uni Stuff > Law
Level of interest advised to undertake Law? / JD or LLB?
sam.utute:
I'm pretty sure I know who you're talking about - that person is incredible. So much respect for her.
I guess my main point was that doing a 5 year degree gives you time to build up your resume and find out exactly what you want to do.
I only worked out what I wanted to do this year (after 3 years of uni). Now I'm building my skills and resume to work towards breaking in to that industry.
Ultimately though, I think you're right - though I'm quite happy with my decision to do Comm/Law instead of Comm :)
Sah123:
I'm in a similar boat to the OP except even after a BA I am still unsure of what it is I wish to do. I have been accepted into postgraduate law but don't know if I should accept when I'm not 100% convinced that it's the right choice. I've always had an interest in law since the end of VCE but have been somewhat scared off by the thought that it could be three years of hard work and no reward if I end up choosing another path. The other field I'm tossing up between is doing higher journalism study. I know I enjoy journalism but the instability currently characterising the media industry is another worry. If the professionals are losing their media jobs, what great hope do I have? Anyway, any advice/guidance is appreciated :)
MrCommerce:
A bit off topic - but would you guys say that enjoying debating is an essential trait to studying law? (I was at Monash today and they seemed to brag a lot about their superior abilities in debating.)
Honestly, i've had high school leadership roles, but have never been a natural public speaker (still shake sometimes lol). Is this problematic? (Though i'm motivated to improve this.)
I previously thought this would only be fundamental if i was going into law (e.g. barrister) and assumed that debating and mooting is merely optional (can anyone confirm this?).
Also, at monash, how many pages can i expect to read per week (on average)? I've heard at other law schools it can be anywhere from 200pgs per week to 200pgs per night.
ninwa:
--- Quote ---I'm in a similar boat to the OP except even after a BA I am still unsure of what it is I wish to do. I have been accepted into postgraduate law but don't know if I should accept when I'm not 100% convinced that it's the right choice. I've always had an interest in law since the end of VCE but have been somewhat scared off by the thought that it could be three years of hard work and no reward if I end up choosing another path. The other field I'm tossing up between is doing higher journalism study. I know I enjoy journalism but the instability currently characterising the media industry is another worry. If the professionals are losing their media jobs, what great hope do I have? Anyway, any advice/guidance is appreciated :)
--- End quote ---
Congrats on the offer! Do you want to be a lawyer? If so, the market is pretty tough, but like you said so is journalism.
It's hardly no reward! Your reward is a qualification which is recognised internationally (I'm assuming you're doing the JD not the LLB). A law degree opens a lot of doors into other careers as well, not just practising law.
If you've been interested in it since VCE then I think you should give it a shot. You could always quit after a trimester if you don't like it :P
--- Quote ---A bit off topic - but would you guys say that enjoying debating is an essential trait to studying law? (I was at Monash today and they seemed to brag a lot about their superior abilities in debating.)
Honestly, i've had high school leadership roles, but have never been a natural public speaker (still shake sometimes lol). Is this problematic? (Though i'm motivated to improve this.)
I previously thought this would only be fundamental if i was going into law (e.g. barrister) and assumed that debating and mooting is merely optional (can anyone confirm this?).
Also, at monash, how many pages can i expect to read per week (on average)? I've heard at other law schools it can be anywhere from 200pgs per week to 200pgs per night.
--- End quote ---
No, debating is most definitely not essential. Mooting is a good thing to experience at least once (and Monash offers a first year moot, so you won't be competing against more experienced later year students), but it only really has relevance to those who want to become barristers (i.e. the lawyers trained in advocacy - the ones who speak at court). And I'm pretty sure even the most charismatic barrister shook at their very first court appearance! It's something you develop with experience and time. Solicitors don't generally speak in court (except maybe for minor Magistrates Court matters) so you can definitely be a lawyer without being some public speaking maven. I can't public speak for shit and I refused to do any more mooting after the first time, but I did a court appearance (representing a real client) as part of an elective unit and still got very good reviews.
I put up some reading guides for some of the later year subjects here. Ethics and trusts are compulsory subjects if you want to be admitted to practise later, so I would have a look at those reading guides for an idea of the workload.
sam.utute:
--- Quote from: MrCommerce on December 19, 2013, 05:34:16 pm ---A bit off topic - but would you guys say that enjoying debating is an essential trait to studying law? (I was at Monash today and they seemed to brag a lot about their superior abilities in debating.)
Honestly, i've had high school leadership roles, but have never been a natural public speaker (still shake sometimes lol). Is this problematic? (Though i'm motivated to improve this.)
I previously thought this would only be fundamental if i was going into law (e.g. barrister) and assumed that debating and mooting is merely optional (can anyone confirm this?).
Also, at monash, how many pages can i expect to read per week (on average)? I've heard at other law schools it can be anywhere from 200pgs per week to 200pgs per night.
--- End quote ---
Agree with ninwa. I never debated at high school and never got involved at university. Plenty of friends that are keen on becoming barristers down the track are not involved either - though they do tend to get involved during moots.
In terms of reading - I probably read a couple of pages a week :P Probably not even that. You realise after a while that reading cases and textbooks adds very little knowledge; I spend more time reading notes from previous semesters. A lot of people overstate the amount of reading that you need to do in law. It's all relative to the mark that you're aiming for: e.g. if you want a HD, you will have to put in a fair few hours and read more widely (e.g. journal articles and the like), whereas you could probably get a D by just reading notes.
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