Uni Stuff > Law
Level of interest advised to undertake Law? / JD or LLB?
ninwa:
--- Quote from: MrCommerce on December 17, 2013, 02:31:35 pm ---Thanks for the replies! :)
That's interesting, i was under the impression that it was common for students to undertake com/law for finance. So you're saying that for a finance career (which i'm pretty much set on btw), it is more suitable to perhaps take a single degree Commerce and go for a high GPA?
Admittedly, i don't have much of an idea of what the Law course involves - i can't seem to make it out of merely the university brochures :-[ + i'm only looking from the extensively limited scope of VCE Legal Studies :-\.
Would law be of any material benefit in my pursuit for a finance career? - I've always wanted to do more than a Commerce single degree. I'm just a little scared of the UoM pathway, because i could see the temptation of graduating with the undergraduate degree and going full-time in the workforce.
Also, i was reading the Law FAQ, and you say that both the JD and LLB are functionally the same. Is the fact that JD is a masters degree irrelevant then? Is the content in JD any more difficult than the law undergrad?
Thanks again!!!
--- End quote ---
I admittedly know very little about finance careers. I was merely speaking from the GPA point of view. Investment banking/finance type jobs are extremely competitive (I assume you're gonna be aiming for the big 4) and almost certainly law will bring down your GPA. For comparison's sake, honours in almost any other discipline requires a HD (80) average but for law you only need a 67 (last I checked - that's for 3rd class honours, but you can still write LLB (Hons) and nobody would be the wiser).
I don't think there's anything wrong with having just a commerce degree, as long as you have an impeccable transcript and you have co and extra curriculars.
JD is to LLB as the MBBS is to the MD - they are the same and grant you essentially the same qualifications. The content is the same - you are required to do certain units to graduate with a law degree (compulsory units) and beyond that, certain additional units if you want to be admitted to practice (quasi-compulsory units - you don't have to do these to get a degree but you won't be allowed to work as a lawyer). The workload may be slightly heavier because I believe the JD is conducted in trimesters not semesters, so you don't have as many breaks. I imagine the competition might be slightly tougher because your cohort would be more mature students who already have a degree under their belt and who are probably already professionals in other industries, and so probably have better work ethics, but that has nothing to do with the content itself.
--- Quote from: meganrobyn on December 17, 2013, 02:35:37 pm ---Funny thing - on my first day of LLB I was one of only two, perhaps, people in the (large) seminar who said they were doing Law because they actually wanted to be a lawyer - I'd wanted to be a barrister since PRIMARY SCHOOL.
--- End quote ---
That's impressive, I didn't even know there was a difference between barristers and solicitors until like 2nd year lol
Russ:
--- Quote from: ninwa on December 17, 2013, 04:55:09 pm ---That's impressive, I didn't even know there was a difference between barristers and solicitors until like 2nd year lol
--- End quote ---
One makes coffee, one goes to court?
ninwa:
hurr durr
sam.utute:
Just to add a bit of a different spin: I chose Comm/Law almost for the exact reasons that you've outlined.
I can't stand Law (I find it quite dry) and am using the law degree to boost my chances of securing something in the commerce field. While I'm not too keen on Investment Banking, I do know A LOT of people in that industry that have completed Comm/Law at Monash. If that's the industry you're keen on, I cannot recommend Comm/Law enough - I have about 9 friends that have gone through that pathway, and many more who are already going down that road.
Just to clarify some points that ninwa made - IB is not the big 4 at all. It's essentially dominated by bulge bracket banks (think Goldman, JPM, UBS, Citi, Mac etc.). They really, really like Comm/Law grads (some more so than others). Doing a 5 year degree also gives you time to pick up work experience and boost your extracurriculars.
An interesting point to note: people doing JDs are viewed as more likely ending up in the legal profession, whereas that view doesn't exist for Comm/Law. As meganrobyn pointed out, very few people do the Monash LLB with the intention to actually work in the legal field.
A law degree also lifts the glass ceiling, so to speak. You'll find a lot of the higher-ups in the finance industry have law degrees (and not necessarily legal backgrounds).
--- Quote from: MrCommerce on December 17, 2013, 07:30:33 am ---Would be awesome if you guys could advise me on whether i am truly cut out for law - my deepest fear is taking com/law at Monash and dropping law and then being stuck with Monash Commerce (in which case, i would much rather UoM Commerce and would rather not deal with external transfer dilemmas).
--- End quote ---
I have a friend who is doing straight commerce at Monash and landed an IB internship at Mac. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if you're at Monash or Melbourne, as long as you come across as a "person" (though certain banks tend to hire exclusively from Melbourne).
appianway:
Just because a lot of people do Comm/Law and then do investment banking doesn't mean that there's a causation. A lot of good students do the double degree because they get into it, so you'd expect a lot of the top jobs to go these students anyway.
I have quite a few friends in Melbourne who will work in IBD this year out of Melbourne, and many others who will be doing big 4 commercial banking out of Melbourne. One of the people I know doing IBD got a 99.95 and thrived at uni; I'm pretty sure that it only matters that you do well instead of doing a particular degree. Basically everyone I know who went to Melbourne has ended up at a prestigious company. Yeah, it's important that you go to a G8, but I'm really not sure how much of a boost Comm/Law gives you.
I'm also pretty sure that the extra two years in IBD in the analyst program (if it works the same in Aus) looks better on your CV than the superfluous law degree.
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