Things to Consider before Studying a Law Degree

Picking the degree you want to study can be difficult for any person. There are so many options and career choices you can make that it's hard to know where to start. Having studied a law degree myself, here are my top six things I believe you need to consider:


1) Reading
When you first start your law degree, one of the first things you will receive is a long long list of all the books you will need to read for the year. Also, due to the masses of coursework you will need to do, you will find yourself scanning your eyes through many books of your own and in the library, just to obtain one small but very important quote. So if you don't like reading, I wouldn't suggest taking up a law degree.


2) Speaking in front of an audience
This may not apply to you during your degree, but if not, it certainly will during your LPC. At some point during your education, you will be obliged to stand up and speak in front of an audience. This may be by way of either a presentation, or perhaps mooting. Needless to say, speaking in front of people makes the majority of us nervous, but we all get through it in the end. It's purpose is to help build your confidence, there's no need to hide from it.


3) Voicing your opinion (respectfully)
Studying the law gives you the opportunity to discuss issues, flaws and positives in the law. Of course everyone will have a different view on this but law seminars give you the opportunity to discuss your point of view with others. It can sometimes become a bit heated but it is also very fun at the same time! I would encourage you take part in these as it builds confidence and allows you to look at issues from different perspectives.

4)Achy hands
Lets face it, these exams aren't easy. Some will last 3-3.5 hours, and you will be writing the whole time, so your hands will ache, A LOT.


5) Sleepless nights
For some reason (and in my own experience), universities like to cluster all of the coursework deadlines and exam dates all in the same week/month. So you will be having a few sleepless nights to try and get everything done in time! But don't let this put you off, once the craziness of deadline month is over, you can have a bit of a break.

6) Factortame
If you study EU Law you will be studying this case. It is very possible you will go through the whole year of not understanding one bit of it. Don't worry, none of us did either!

Court & Catastrophes

Another week in the family department meant another few trips to Court. Although family law isn't my favourite area, I do enjoy attending Court to observe how an issue is considered and resolved.

The Court that I attended actually had air conditioning, oh my, it was like a dream! Especially in the heat we had last week, I'm not sure if I could have spent the day in my local Court. The Court I usually attend is only air conditioned in the hearing rooms, which means that most of the time I am left sweaty, muggy and dehydrated.

Also this week, I had one of those days where nothing seems to go right. I was writing a document that took me a rather long time (hours worth) to which by the time I was reading it through to make sure it made sense, it corrupted and didn't save. I had to do it all again the next day! And then it took me an hour and a half to get home in the scorching heat. I really was not in a good mood that day!

Similar events of this kind happened during the same week so I was not feeling my best.

It was one of those weeks where I had to accept that nothing was going to go right and look forward to the weekend, which I did. I made it a very relaxing weekend of doing absolutely nothing.

I hope you all enjoy another week!

Peace, Parties & Paris

In my last post I mentioned how I had a week off, a time to relax and forget about everything.

During the middle of the week I took a trip to Dedham where I went for a walk along the river with my other half and watched/laughed at everyone who was trying to row a boat. For those that don't know, Dedham is an extremely beautiful village in Essex where you can hire rowing boats. What a lovely day it was and the weather was so warm. I fell asleep next to the river!

The end of my week turned into a somewhat erratic and restless but yet amazing time. On the Friday I attended my firm's summer party. The firm hosted an evening of golf, hog roast and drinks which was very nice. It gave us a chance to socialise outside of the office and put a good end to the week.

I had to leave the party early. As I had mentioned in my previous post, I had been told by my other half that I was going somewhere for the night but I had no idea what I was doing. It wasn't until 11pm on Friday night that I was told that I needed to wake up at 5am on Saturday because I was being taken to Paris for the weekend!

Well of course by this point there was no chance of me being able to sleep. I must have managed about 2-3 hours maximum. I was too excited, I didn't think I would be taken abroad!

So Saturday came and we were rushing around to get to London to get the Eurostar. The weekend was absolutely amazing. As we weren't there for long, our main activities involved visiting the Eiffel Tower and taking a cruise along the river. I even felt brave and tried some snails, much more enjoyable than you would think!

What a blast I had, it all went so quickly. I arrived back home at 11pm Sunday night so my first day back at work felt extremely long. But I've caught the holiday bug now, and the next trip is in the process of being booked.