Thoughts on Law? (1 Viewer)

[Hoskiies]

How hard is the course
In highschool I was never good at English but I'm definitely keen on putting my head and improve it. I heard it's constant essays after essays.

What's the Job prospect
When I graduate will I definitely get a job instantly?

How much reading is there
Do they expect us to read at home?

Maths, is there any?

 

[Drifting95]

How hard is the course
In highschool I was never good at English but I'm definitely keen on putting my head and improve it. I heard it's constant essays after essays.

What's the Job prospect
When I graduate will I definitely get a job instantly?

How much reading is there
Do they expect us to read at home?

Maths, is there any?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Dude do you live under a rock?

It's actually the complete opposite if you want to get into a law based career.

 

[nerdasdasd]

Lots of readings ...little maths, (lots of maths if you consider counting the amount of pages you have to read.)

 

[Spiritual Bean]

How hard is the course

Lots of readings, and you have to critically analyse the law, not copy the textbooks brief overview of an issue as we do in HSC legal studies.

In highschool I was never good at English but I'm definitely keen on putting my head and improve it. I heard it's constant essays after essays.

Obviously you need solid English skills insofar as writing a coherent and analytical argument.

What's the Job prospect
When I graduate will I definitely get a job instantly?

There's an oversupply of law graduates and I think it's fair to extend that oversupply to most white collar jobs. If you're committed, you'll do well. There will always be two lawyers with similar experience who have disparate incomes, it's all about how you play the game. I know a family lawyer who is barely getting by, and I know one with less experience, who is a millionaire. Get politically and legally involved from a young age. Be the 17/18 year old working on a legal case and getting involved in a political party. Don't wait until you're 25 with no direction and render your own law degree useless, then go on Whirlpool forums and complain about how shit the job prospects are for law when you've closed it on yourself. It's a game you have to be willing to play with innovation.

How much reading is there
Do they expect us to read at home?

I've heard a lot of time is devoted to readings.

Maths, is there any?

It's words.

 

[timeslowsdown]

I've just finished my first year of law so bear in mind that my answers obviously aren't the best.

How hard is the course
In highschool I was never good at English but I'm definitely keen on putting my head and improve it. I heard it's constant essays after essays.

From what I understand, there will almost always be an essay component to law (in terms of law school). But I think the % weighting of the essay component is usually less than that of the problem solving component. For example, in our torts assessments, the problem solving section (which is not an essay) constituted 65% of the mark for that assessment, while an essay critiquing a specific part of the law only constituted 35%. So I wouldn't say it's 'constant essays', but bear in mind that essay writing is a part of law, albeit you definitely do not need a passion for english. But good writing skills does help a lot.

What's the Job prospect
When I graduate will I definitely get a job instantly?

Like the others have said, for a career in law specifically, job prospects are not the best. It's very competitive to say the least. However, in reality law is a pretty good generalist degree that a variety of employers value, so you can use it to your advantage to get into a non-law job. So if you want do go down the non-law path, there are a variety of opportunities that you may have access to. I think like with a lot of other jobs, you can't guarantee that you'll 'get a job instantly', however, if you do well at uni and have so extracurriculars then there is a good chance that you can get a job straight out of uni. But again, I'm not really sure.

How much reading is there
Do they expect us to read at home?

I'm pretty sure the volume of reading just continues to increase. For me, first year law was a big shock in terms of the amount of reading. For some subjects, it's just reading case after case. I found it quite daunting but over time my case reading skills developed and it became easier to really decipher the key findings of a case.

In light of the above, only study if you have some sort of interest in it, and you can see that it could be valuable in the future. It is definitely not a degree that will guarantee a secure line of employment, or salary.

 

[Crobat]

How hard is the course
In highschool I was never good at English but I'm definitely keen on putting my head and improve it. I heard it's constant essays after essays.

Difficulty is dependent on the individual, but I find it more time-consuming than all of the HSC courses combined.

What's the Job prospect
When I graduate will I definitely get a job instantly?

Shit job prospect at the moment for lawyers(refer to Spiritual's post above), but you can always take the degree to other jobs like consultancy which you may have better job prospects.

How much reading is there
Do they expect us to read at home?

I'm not sure if you meant to sound like an idiot, but I'm going to pretend you didn't just ask a stupid question like "do they expect us to do any sort of homework" for a university degree and just say that in one of my foundies subjects I had 3 350 page booklets to go through and a 300 page textbook. This will obviously vary per subject (and I wouldn't hasten to say that this will be one of the few subjects with this many pages of reading to do) but I would say you should spend at least 5 hours a seminar/class at home on homework to do the degree properly.

Maths, is there any?

Yeah... counting how many pages of reading you have to do and comparing it to how little time you have left to do them.

 

[Spiritual Bean]

Shit job prospect at the moment for lawyers(refer to Spiritual's post above), but you can always take the degree to other jobs like consultancy which you may have better job prospects.

Yeah, the saving grace of law is that it branches off to numerous jobs, and just about every university only offers combined law, so a jobless graduate (due to shit job market today) have an extra chance to get a job with their other degree (famously commerce).

 

[Trans4M]

How hard is the course
In highschool I was never good at English but I'm definitely keen on putting my head and improve it. I heard it's constant essays after essays.
Difficulty is subjective. It also depends on your interest. People tend to find certain law subjects are easier because of their interests. For e.g. I found Business Association not as challenging as people said it was but I did find Admin Law difficult. My friend is opposite and found Admin significantly easier than BA.

What's the Job prospect
When I graduate will I definitely get a job instantly?
It is challenging to get a job in the legal sector atm. The government is cutting funds for certain services so that means less available work in social justice. Corporate Law is also experiencing a decline in recruiting new graduates.

How much reading is there
Do they expect us to read at home?
Reading increases as you progress through the law degree. In first year it was about 20-30 pages for every 2 hour of law class. By the time you hit 4th year subjects, you can read anywhere between 30-80 pages for every 2 hour of class. In 4th year will be doing 3 law subjects each semester so about 90-240 pages for each day of class.

Maths, is there any?
Whoever said there isn't any Maths at all is 1) not learning the right degree or 2) hasn't progressed to the courses that touches numbers. The maths that you will ever come across are adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying. For e.g. in Business Association, a Company's constitution might say that to pass a resolution you need at least 70% of the votes. At a meeting of 10, 6 people vote in favour of purchasing Land A. Two weeks later the company signs to purchase Land A. Is the company permitted to do this?

So you have to analyse if 6/10 is > 70% (which it's not). So then the rant of analysis that follows it goes on.

I agree that most of law is words but to say there isn't Maths, is a lie >.>

Don't worry about the Maths even if you think you're bad. My friend who failed 2U Maths in HSC is still acing law in flying colours

 

[Crobat]

Maths, is there any?
Whoever said there isn't any Maths at all is 1) not learning the right degree or 2) hasn't progressed to the courses that touches numbers. The maths that you will ever come across are adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying. For e.g. in Business Association, a Company's constitution might say that to pass a resolution you need at least 70% of the votes. At a meeting of 10, 6 people vote in favour of purchasing Land A. Two weeks later the company signs to purchase Land A. Is the company permitted to do this?

So you have to analyse if 6/10 is > 70% (which it's not). So then the rant of analysis that follows it goes on.

I agree that most of law is words but to say there isn't Maths, is a lie >.>

Don't worry about the Maths even if you think you're bad. My friend who failed 2U Maths in HSC is still acing law in flying colours

I'm going to be honest and say I knew this was in it but those can hardly be considered legit Maths worth worrying about in the scheme of things...

 

[Trans4M]

I'm going to be honest and say I knew this was in it but those can hardly be considered legit Maths worth worrying about in the scheme of things...

Well OP did ask for any maths. So it's better to state what it is than make general assumptions. While most people can do basic maths operations, a small minority struggle. However, their problem solving skill may be great.

 

[Sathius005]

News flash: We are the middle of an economic meltdown. The demand for lawyers have reduced companies are not exactly lining up to hire lawyers.

 

[Trans4M]

More likely to affect those currently enrolled in Law rather than those planning to commence law. I think the market will recover by the time the 2014 intakes graduate