Just found out from my daily thelawyer.com newsletter that they have opened a new website for law students
You can find the website here I have skimmed over some of the site, and I was really impressed with the content I managed to read, I would definitely recommend a visit.
Normal blogging will resume soon.
Each year at the company I work for there is an event called The Management Conference. The name gives away what it is, but to elaborate it's a day when all the managers and directors of the company meet up at a external location to discuss, analyse and attempt to improve the manner in which the company is managed.
This is what they would love you to believe, realistically its more like a giant wine tasting contest, except you swallow the wine and skip the sniffing, gargling and spitting part. Of course all those who are not managers remain at work, keeping the business running. Which brings me to my key point, do we need so many managers?
The company I work in seems to have this incessant need to appoint a manager for every aspect of work, I am sure we have a manager for 'Lavatory Activities'. It's so apparent today how many managers there are in the business because the office is nearly empty. Is there really a need for so many managers?
I don't think there is, in fact I find it so irritating that a company feels the need to glorify so many people with the 'manager' title. When I previously worked for an American company they seemed to have appointed nearly everyone who was a step down from president level to vice-president. So there was a vice-president of Accounts, HR, IT, Advertising, Marketing etc etc. These VP's, as they were so dutifully called, just seem to meander around the office appearing to do nothing. I am sure they were very busy and produced critical reports, but was there really a need to appoint so many.
Maybe I am being a little naive, but the departmental structure has to be drawn into question, when you have to make contact with four 'Managers' to actually get a purchase order raised and completed for a new laptop.
It is my belief that processes in any company should be as simplified as possible with as few interactions with different people. For example if you wanted to order a laptop, a 2-tier contact process should occur and the item is purchased. You need to confer on a report, then speak directly to the person who will be making use of that report, producing a 1-tier contact process. I feel anything above 3-tiers of contact results in changes, problems and ideas becoming diluted, it develops into a chinese whispers scenario.
I am sure most companies are managed efficiently, just the current one I am in seems to have lost the plot somewhere.
So today I am going to do nothing, at midday head to the company bar and chill with some beer and discuss the potential problems of the recent House of Lords ruling on unmarried couples and the division of their assets with people who have no idea what I am talking about. If a server crashes I will advise people they first have to speak to the IT Helpdesk Manager, who will then confer with the IT Network Manager, who in turn will need to speak to the IT Systems Manager, who will discuss this with the IT Operations Manager, a change control will then need to be raised for a tiny windows update which takes 1min to install. Finally I will state they will have to wait as all the managers are at The Management Conference 2007, bring on my law degree please....
No doubt most people have seen the headlines regarding the first uk law firm (Field Fisher Waterhouse) opening a 'virtual office' in Second Life. I read the article about it at Times Online and thought it might be interesting to try and give it a go, and see if I could find the 'virtual office' of Field Fisher Waterhouse.
So I installed Second Life on my computer, signed up, it was all quite simple and easy to perform. I created my avatar and named him 'Law Apprentice Oh', for some reason you have to give your avatar a family name, I chose 'Oh'. I am guessing it's for when you create more than one avatar it can then group them under one surname.
I logged into the game and was immediately struck by how slow it was, it took a good 5mins for my avatar and others around me to finish loading. I have quite a powerful PC considering I work in IT, it is a requisite of the job, so I couldn't believe it was something on my end. I then proceeded to follow through the tutorial, well some of the tutorial, I found it incredibly boring and time consuming and after eventually managing to pick up some bizarre medieval armour, I just shut it down.
So my journey to the 'virtual office' ended prematurely, in fairness to Second Life I didn't really give it a chance, so I might zoom back in there again at some point to continue the journey. The flying aspect of it I found to be great fun, the depth of the world appears incredible, but regarding the general movement and speed, I was not really impressed.
So if you managed to get it downloaded and installed have a look around for Law Apprentice avatar, I doubt I will be in there much but you never know, you can visit the Second Life website here
Just had an interesting conversation on the phone with my girlfriend. She rung me to advise me that when she secures a job with a Design company (She is currently studying Theatre Design) she was thinking of saving frantically and then purchasing a house in the north of England. The idea behind this is to then rent the house out to students or professionals to make some extra money on the side. I think its a great idea, but it does seem a little too easy. I tried to usurp her position by presenting her with council tax, water rates and the many costs from building problems, but her lovable optimism shone through and she would not be disheartened. I shouldn't worry so much really, shes really intelligent, knows what she wants and is really good to me, I know she will make it work out.
So it seems the long term plan is to invest in a house in the north, then when I finish the law degree, and hopefully get a training contract we can invest in our own house. Sounds like a good plan. However it involves playing the waiting game. Following the many headlines about housing prices, I personally anticipate in the next 5yrs the prices will drop. Its surely inevitable as housing prices have risen 204% compared to wage increases of only 94% over (Source: www.bbc.co.uk). So we will wait in anticipation of this drop. I don't think they will drop dramatically like in 1979, but they will have to come down slightly.
The probability of this is encouraged by the housing graph on the http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/ website, notice how it rises and falls religiously each set amount of years. Maybe this period will be different but there is no harm in hoping
So today I am a good mood, amongst the other things in my life I have to look forward too, I can add this one to my list. Ironically it will probably turn out to be a nightmare in the end.
You have probably noticed some changes to the layout and graphics on the blog. I am currently trying to make the blog a bit more appealing aesthetically, in the hope it will become more memorable. I also feel more compelled to work on if it is something I like the look of.
In the near future I will probably try and make the blogs a bit more animated and down to earth, and add in personal blogs about everyday life along with the seemingly serious blogs I have posted lately.
I am a very happy guy, with a beautiful girlfriend and a wonderful opportunity to succeed in law, but my blogs read like someone who is about to kill himself, so I think it might be an idea to diversify the blog slightly. I hope it may give people and myself a more rounded and entertaining view of me and my life, as at the moment it reads too serious.
Anyway thats all I have to say about that, if you have any comments about how it looks now let me know, all criticism is welcome. Thanks for still reading.
Unlike most first year students who have just finished their A-Levels and are trying to go out and party as much as they can (allegedly), I have the luxury of experience and time to make a decision on what area of law I would like to specialise in.
I would be very naive to make a final decision on an area of law now, but its nice to at least have something I can focus my attention on, as well as doing alot of reading up on modules due in my first year.
On top of this I was looking for something that would enable me to make some use of the IT knowledge I have accumulated over the years. I don't really want a subject that would embellish me in IT again but just something that would touch on it. I thought it might be beneficial from a CV point of view as well.
I have also made a mental note to try and put in some happier blogs, I briefly looked over some of my previous blogs and they seem to have tones of melancholy about them. Its beginning to make me look like a closet depressive, when I am actually a very happy guy.
I found some interesting links to information about IP and IP law and listed them below incase anyone else is interested
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/whatis.htm - Base IP explanations
http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/ipr/IntellectualProperty.htm -Overview of IP
http://www.ip-institute.org.uk/ - IP Institute
Law Society Property Law
I know there is many more but this is just a snippet, if you know of any really good links, leave a comment pointing to it, thanks
Since I attained my place on a law degree at UCL, I have found that people treat me differently. Differently is a rather vague description, so to elaborate I would say they treat me with more respect. Everytime someone asks me what I do for a living, I let them know I work in IT, and they make some remark about 'lots' of money, I usually retort with a comment about the serious lack of money.
Following a discussion about the IT industries supply and demand matrix I let them know I have given up on IT, having obtained placement on a law degree in October, and their eyes light up. Its a warm feeling when people act this way, but I try my best to make sure I keep my feet firmly on the ground, as not to get caught up in the excitement of it all. I haven't even begun the journey yet and I find it's all too easy to become complacent.
I remind myself that Changing careers is not only changing physical aspects of my life, for example leaving my job or going back into education, its a change in thinking, a change in etiquette, a change in how I actually live. Its hard to admit but I do find my life has turned into a THEM AND US scenario.
Growing up I was from a family with a doctor for a father and nurse for a mother. We didn't consider
ourselves middle class, in fact we didn't consider ourselves any class we just were happy existing day by day. I grew up in a neighbourhood that was very loose with its language, people would say phrases such as "Hello MATE","ain't" and "Alright geez" and many more. This was never a problem for me growing up or working in IT, I wasn't as crass as other people but I did find that I slipped into that tone when I was in the company of people who spoke like that. It was peer pressure, I wanted to fit in. (I do want to emphasise at this point that I was not some kind of Del Boy or Rodney Trotter, my accent was softer but it was evident nevertheless.)
Since deciding on a career in law, I have dedicated my days to improving my accent,attempted to stop calling people, who I don't know, "mate" and improving my overall diction and pronunciation. It's alot harder than I thought it would be. My girlfriend helps alot as she is the most well spoken person I know, I would compare her to Elizabeth Hurley's voice, so I find it easy to speak more elegantly around her.
However my friends and some family are still a problem.
Thus the 'Them and Us' connundrum has developed. What worries me is that by improving my diction I will alienate long term friends and family. Alternatively if I don't improve my pronunciation and diction I may as well give up the journey of being a lawyer right now. I can't imagine greeting a client with "Hello mate" or "No this contract ain't anygood". Its not that I would openly use this phrases but the odd slip could prove fatal.
I have committed myself to this path, regardless of the reaction of friends and family. These sacrifices are inevitable if I want to be a successful lawyer, and so I expect the odd comment about my change in language to emerge at some point.
I guess I wanted to write this blog because amongst the 95% (a number picked from thin air) of well spoken 'wannabe' lawyers there is the crassly spoken individual who strives for a life in law. I didn't really want them to feel like it was only them who worried about these things. I also thought it might be an interesting topic to blog about especially considering the law in the UK is striving to present a diverse selection of lawyers, more representative of the societies they exist for.
So much to do, so little time. This seems to be my life at the moment there are many things I want to do before and during my law degree. I am split between actions and thoughts, either constantly thinking about what I need to achieve, or I spend all day trying to achieve something that I never even thought about.
The current list that I briefly compiled (in no particular order) consists of:
-Improving my writing skills, along with spelling/grammar
-Practising letter drafting, formal business writing
-Academic essay writing, revision techniques
-Improving my critical thinking
-Reading the FT, Times Law and general law papers/websites as much as possible
-Research potential law firms
-Improve my spoken english, pronunciation and curb some unsavoury accents
The problem at the moment is that I leap between each item, reading half a book or completing half an exercise. I really need to just sit down and complete one item and then move onto the next and then repeat until I am happy I have improved somewhat in each area.
In fact just writing this blog has allowed me to collate my thoughts in a more ordered fashion, so...er...thanks to me.
I have recently been reading Accidental Law Student and couldn't help notice in one of his blogs a strange question asked to him by some HR people in a law firm.
It got me thinking, wouldn't it be interesting to hunt down some obscure interview questions and answer them. I would claim it is in preparation for interviews in the far future, but it just seems like good fun for now. Interviews are too far away to consider any work now to be beneficial to them.
Anyhow I managed to find some and have posted them below along with some my responses (Not serious responses might i add)
A young Charles Bronson, the man was brilliant in "Once upon a time in the west" with his harmonica
I rushed most of the answers but thought it would be interesting to give it a go, maybe give it a go yourself
Travel South America, China and Russia
Spend every minute doing things that made me happy
Hitler, just to find out what was running through his mind during the holocaust and why
You are not a particularly good interviewer
Petrol, 4WD...hmm maybe not probably a 1.1 now
I don't really admire anyone, I feel I want to make my own way in life, and admiring someone suggests that I attempting to perform what they did, which is not what I want
IT Harddrive cleaned, installing Legal software
Deciding a area of law you want to specialise in, is..well...hard. I thought as I have sometime till I begin my law degree I would go researching the different areas of law.
I don't know if it affects anyone else, but I find the call of high bonuses and wages a real calling in certain areas of law. People seem to repeat that they are moving into corporate law, it seems to be the area that most people feel the need to move into. I expect its because of the money, but I have a friend of a friend who works for Nabarro Nathanson (now called Nabarros) and she works in corporate law and finds that she spends some evenings sleeping in her office due to the work load. But this is usually only during large deals.
The idea of this, puts me a little more off corporate law but I think when I see the pay packet that would soften the pain. I am all for working long hours and I am a bit of an insomniac, living on 5hrs sleep most days.I then looked a little at IP law (Intellectual Property) and entertainment law. My girlfriend immediately warned me off entertainment law, claiming that anything to do with the entertainment world, is shallow and false. So that put that idea on the back burner, don't want to annoy her! So I am currently dipping my toes into the world of intellectual property, corporate and having a look at family law....you can see I am really not sure what to go for.
I am hoping that when I begin my degree I will have a more rounded idea of what different areas of law work would involve. What would be nice is a website describing in detail the typical day in the life of different lawyers in different areas of law, that way you can get an informed look at what you might be getting yourself into. Guess thats what work experience placements are for though.
Maybe I am getting ahead of myself too much....I should try walking before running.
(Upon reading this over again, I realise how terribly written it is, but it was 7:50am and I was at work half asleep, so show pity)
I am taking a blog out of the usual work, life, studies, money etc etc one, as I had a bit of a nasty surprise this weekend.
I signed up on facebook, due to the fact one of my old travelling buddies badgered me alot to go on there. So being weak willed I signed up, to my surprise alot of old Uni friends and school friends were on there and started sending me these friend requests. All was going well, I don't really like the idea of putting my face and details up to potentially millions of people but I rolled with it for a while.
The other day I was hovering over the deactivate account button, when I received another e-mail through for another friend request.
To my shock and horror it was a friend request from an ex-girlfriend I had known in the final year of my University life. It was a good relationship, but those kind of relationships where you feel like the other person is sniggering behind your back all the time. I swear she cheated on me at some point as well, but in all honesty it was all one sided, I was totally into her, and she was kinda into me. I was weak, stupid and naive and got used alot. Anyway, my current girlfriend finds this girl a threat, I totally understand that because I was a bit hung up on her even after I left university, and she put up with alot of my crap at the beginning of our relationship. My current girlfriend is MILES ahead of my ex, shes amazing and understanding and well..you get my point
Now your probably thinking "Hey thats great Law Apprentice but WHAT THE HELL has this to do with Law" Well irony of ironies she studied law at university and don't you just believe it she now works at a top law firm in London. CURSE YOU!!! CURSE YOUUUUUUU!!! (Whoever YOU is???!)
As you can imagine I noted the name of that law firm down and will now do WHATEVER it takes to avoid it like the plague. Your probably wondering why I am so adamant to stay away, I find it worrying that a girl who dumped me years ago would go out of her way to find me on facebook, its kind of fatal attraction like, especially when I told her to leave me alone. The main reason however is that it makes my current girlfriend unhappy, and that is more than enough reason for me to 'nip it in the bud'
If anymore drama comes of it I am sure I will blog it out here, back on track tomorrow hopefully
So as you might have read from yesterday's blog I am making many sacrifices to push my mature student rag of a body through University. My main plan is to try and secure some kind of part time work within the Legal arena, to give me that headstart when applying for training contracts and work. The main problem is that there just doesn't seem to be any permanent part-time work in that area. Or is there?
I have looked quite alot, but being honest to myself not as extensively as I could have. So I am kind of putting the question out to any readers.
Do you know of any permanent part time legal work in the London/Kent area? It doesn't have to be amazing work, it could just involve photocopying or running errands, anything really, just something that gives me some extra cash but at the same time allows me the exposure to the workings of a legal environment. To be honest I am even considering full time work, but I am not sure how you enter a law firm or legal magazine without any experience. Maybe I should try and get an IT job in a law firm and then push my knowledge through that?
I realise this is putting myself out there, throwing myself on the mercy of the blogging world, but I thought why not? Some of my readers are probably more experienced and more knowledgeable of the Law world than I am, and tapping into that information channel would be a great idea.
The key reason for getting this part time work, is that I can foresee an interview with a major law firm in the future querying me for any Law experience I have, and why they think they should hire a mature student with extensive IT experience into a law firm....I want to nip that potential recruitment cyanide before its swallowed along with my potential employment prospects
My next port of call is querying my local courts or local law firms for any work that involves cleaning toilet bowls or scraping chewing gum off partners shoes.
So if you can help leave a comment, if not then I appreciate that you read the blog.
I will carry on this work, money, studies, life blog tomorrow
I am currently sitting in my girlfriends parents house, writing this blog, yes she got home but not after having a 4hr delay to her flight.....
Whether I like it or not I have to admit to myself that I am a little rusty on the writing, speaking and grammar skills needed to truly be a top rate lawyer. When I was in my 6th form at school I took Politics, English (Lang & Lit) and History, a super collection of subjects for essay writing.
However, it was nearly 10yrs ago when I took part in these subjects, so to claim I am a little rusty would be a bit modest. So I decided it would be a good idea to start brushing up on my essay writing skills again.
Whilst looking through the jungles of the internet searching for any guidance I found some particularly interesting sites which could help improve your writing skills, I have listed them below
The Royal Literary Fund - Essay Guide
Web Grammar Free Tips
Legal Dictionary
Another Legal Dictionary
Business Proposal writing
Cool Grammar tidbits you never really knew
In the last link I especially like the description about the difference between 'practice' and practise' I would recommend checking it out, I think I recall a barrister stating that it was a necessity to know the difference between them.
If you know anyother good writing and grammar sites or even ones to improve your speech, just add them in the comments, I haven't really gone looking for speech ones yet but I am sure I will find some. Speaking properly is obviously a key aspect of working with clients, but the curtain cloaking the speech patterns of lawyers intrigues me, maybe someone out there has some inside knowledge about it?
On a side note the bank holiday weekend was a messy and expensive one, I swear I am going to stop drinking unnecessarily to try and save some cash, and my girlfriend arrives back from the USA tomorrow morning so GOOD MOOD!!!!! WOO! I am sure she will start appearing in this blog from time to time now.
Well its a bank holiday in England at the mo, so I am going to take it easy from blogging for a couple of days
But I will return very soon, so stay tuned and all that jazz
Following on from my post yesterday, I decided to take a more detailed look at the Lovells website, I have been there before but only perused briefly over it. Its got some great information on their for potential graduate recruits, but one part of the site really intrigued me, their Critical Thinking Test.
You can find the example test they provide HERE, it basically revolves around different skills that will be required of you daily whilst working as a solicitor. The test breaks this down into different sections they are:
-Inference
-Recognition of Assumptions
-Deduction
-Interpretation
-Evaluation of Arguments
On my first legitimate go I achieved 65%, not great but not bad either considering I performed it whilst on lunch at work and people were interrupting me constantly. However it got me to thinking IT has done me a great justice in that I am required to use the above skills everyday in IT, but with different material. I feel that maybe I need to read up more on this Critical Thinking approach, just to prepare myself for any potential tests far in the future and to get a headstart on further developing the skills I may be needing when I become a Solicitor/Barrister.
I would recommend anyone go try out the test, its good fun and just requires some logical thought, but I would suggest doing it alone and in a quiet room, never helps to be interrupted and told a Server has crashed or a director of the companies Laptop won't connect to the internet, when you trying to deduce whether heart disease in the north is caused more by the basic lower income (do the test your understand that point).
I did some more research on the actual test being used by Lovells and its called Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, I have decided to try and invest in a book or two on the subject of critical thinking and see where that takes me for now
One of my main worries, being a more mature 20yr old, is the possibility that my age will prove to be a hinderance to my applications to law firms. At the moment the law world in the UK is under going a transformation when it looks towards minorities and potential female solicitors. Their rights and opportunities are being plastered all over the press and internet, but amongst all this fracas I can't really see anyone talking about age.
I have read of people joining the Bar at age 40+, but not solicitors joining law firms at that age, which is understandable...but doesn't apply to me because its a long time before I am that age. By the time I finish my law degree I will be in the infancy of my 30's.
When I go to law firm sites, they always seem to cater only for university grads, I use the term 'only' very loosely as I am sure their are plenty of law firms which take a more general view to employment on their websites and recruitment pamphlets.
I do worry though that when I walk into a law firm as an early 30yr old man, I will coming up against fresh, 'younger' straight A's A-Level students, with perfect 1st in their Law degree. My A-Levels are far from straight A's but I aim to get a 1st on my law degree. I suppose I would just like some law firms to state that they value work/life experience as much as a perfect academic record when they interview older employees. That way I wouldn't worry as much about my previous not so perfect academic career.
So thats exactly what I did, I e-mailed some major law firms to see what their approach to mature students were, to see if a not so perfect academic record would cause problems.
Here is what SIMMONS & SIMMONS had to say:
Found some interesting writing on the Times Online today:
First one is about the theory of talent and not cash being the main drive in becoming a barrister
Money Money MONNNNNEY!!
Second one is about City Lawyers attempting to care about the society/communities they live in...
City Lawyers CARE DAMMIT!!
Just a quick blog and found them very interesting reads so thought it best to sharrrrrre
Being stuck in a career you don't want to be in, because your going to be moving into a new and exciting career is difficult. Actually difficult is too soft a word, but I can't seem to articulate a word to explain the frustration and annoyance of daily existence. Its quite a unique feeling as well, knowing that all the study you have done and all the wealth of experience you have in that given area will be eradicated when you begin your new career. It is a liberating feeling.
Returning to the topic at hand, I am not beginning my Law degree until the beginning of October, and until that time I have to remain in my current job in IT. The problem is day to day its hard to even keep myself motivated, a perfect example is that I am currently sitting at my desk writting this blog, (yes you guessed it) whilst at work. Don't misconstrue my attitude to work, before I decided to move into Law I was a diligent, hard working employee, ok I am biased but I believed I was, even now I work hard, but I know I can push so much more out of this cranium of mine. So I find it HIGHLY frustrating in the world of IT when people call up with stupid questions I will present to you one true to life scenario, it actually occurred earlier this morning.
"Hi, IT"
"Yeah hi, my computer thing won't turn on..."
"Ok we need to try and ascertain the problem through a process of elimination..."
(person cuts in)
"Can't you just fix it..!"
"Er..I need to work out the problem first then I can fix it"
"Well I just want it fixed I don't have time to mess around"
"Well if you would just...let..me..."
"Forget it, I will use a colleagues machine, you have been no help at all!!"
This was a conversation I had with a senior manager in the company at 7:25am this morning, I will put it down to the person getting out of the wrong side of the bed, but my god did it piss me off. The conversation has been HEAVILY edited, it went on alot longer, where I had to explain what a power cable was, and even what a plug looked like. It doesn't really help when I am desperately trying to remain productive.
There are many MANY more like it, another reason to put on my imaginary list of reasons to leave IT
I was mulling over my previous blog, and thought it read like a sweaty sock, deciding it was too boring to just leave as a blog post for the day I have decided to write another
What is it like changing careers? I was trying to solidify my experience thus far of deciding to give up a promising career in Information Technology to move too law. My girlfriend sometimes turns round to me and says:
"Oooo your going to make soooo much money, and we can buy my parents a car, I can become a house wife and the holidays..etc"
Before you think it shes never really seemed the money type, so I think her excitement is shadowed by my need to keep my feet firmly on the ground. Plus the fact I haven't even started the LLB yet, lets get some perspective here, I haven't even dipped my little pinky toe in the ocean of qualifying as a solicitor/barrister
Moving into Law I try to keep the negative aspects at the forefront of my mind. Its important for me to do this, because I don't really want to get carried away with the thought of sealing huge deals and travelling abroad to meet clients, whilst raking in huge 15% bonuses. I prefer to keep the realistic issues in perspective, such as working 60-70hr weeks, or the immense pressures involved in trying to keep a client happy whilst billing as many hours as possible. I think I do this because I am worried that after all the work and all the extra debt I will end up spending my first month in Law, thinking
"Holy cow, batman! This is BORING"
Lets be honest here LAW IS TOUGH for all the positives there are similar weighed negatives, and thats fine, bring it on I say, you want 70hr weeks out of me, you got it, you want me to get that multi-billion pound deal signed with Barclays, whilst in the middle of my girlfriend giving birth to my first child!!! YOU GOT IT!! BRING IT ON LAW cause whatever you got, I can take it.
For now I will just keep reading books, blogs and trying to do as much research as I can about firms, types of law and who does the best donuts
Besides if I fail, I could always come back to IT......but I am not going to fail
Books the solid diet of any 'wannabe' lawyer. I am currently tucking into Learning Legal Rules: A Student's Guide to Legal Method and Reasoning (5th Edition) by James A. Holland, Julian Webb. I won't divulge whether its a great book or not, as I am still reading through it, but I am enjoying it and it helps when analysing cases and statutes, though there is alot of subject matter I have already covered like Court structures. If you haven't really looked into Law at all, it might be a nice first step.
I don't claim to be a genius at law books, but throughout the blog I will try and pick out the books I happen to be reading at that time, maybe give an idea to people who might be looking for books for any given subjects
I was sitting reading my first post of this blog this morning, and thinking, well its wonderful that I have made a first post, but why the hell law?
I suppose explaining this to my readers is just as important as explaining it to myself. I thought it might also benefit some people who are considering Law, but can't really pin point a reason to 'jack in' their current career and get into lots of debt to participate in Law.
I did the common path into a degree, meandered through my GCSE's and was rushed into deciding A-Lvls before I really knew what I wanted to do in my life, I was on a computing degree, just soldiering forward knowing I had to succeed and achieve. I don't really think I had a moment to truly step back and research what I wanted to do. I know some people in life, have everything set out and know exactly they want, but when I was younger I didn't really have that luxury. Beginning a career in IT seemed the most logical step, as I was great at fixing computers etc I won't bore you with the computing jargon. However computing was my hobby and I think somewhere in life I confused the enjoyment of a hobby with the perception I would enjoy it as a job.
Obviously I was wrong, and after 5yrs of working IT, I felt it was time to move into another area. So that brings us to the question, why law? I suppose everyone has their own personal reasons for choosing a profession, in true Hollywood style I would have you believe its for one poignant reason, but for me that truly wasn't the case. The various reasons included a better salary, a more (perceived?) respectable profession to advertise to my girlfriends family, a greater intellectual challenge and sense of achievement.
IT just doesn't provide those things to me anymore, and to be honest I just find it boring now, if I have to code another webpage or fix another PC hard drive I am going to go crazy and start a mass genocide on motherboards and monitors. Don't get me wrong I not claiming that IT is generally bad, but for me its reached the end of the line.
I am sure I will find things in Law that bore me or infuriate me, I would be extremely naive not to expect that, but I think it will provide me with the challenge I have craved in my life, whilst at the same time allowing me to enter a world that will benefit me in more aspects of my life. The main difference however is that I have had time to research what is expected of me in Law, I have read extensive books about Law, about specific aspects of law such as contract, tort etc. I have had the time to talk to people in the industry and to really take an indepth look at what is needed to become a solicitor/barrister. Unlike IT, I have had time to reflect on what the industry will be like, and thus make an informed decision about whether I want to go into or not.
(I am sure somewhere in my thoughts there is a proposal to improve the manner in which young people get better access to career information and are given more time to make a decision about their A-Levels and Degree programs, but I will leave that for another blog)
