Facts you should know before studying Law and it’s not too late to still know these:
- You are not seeing the reality of law yet. You are now learning the laws that are around to govern various situations. The rules to allow and forbid actions and practices. What will happen in practice once you qualify is different page of legal world because you will also have to learn about the procedures and proceedings in court. You will only learn this when you have completed your degree. It’s just like learning the alphabets and reading and when you attend higher education, you learn more about what to do with the alphabets.
- Law studies is time-consuming and it gets worse the more you study. There is no shortcut to studying in law. You really need to sit down and read texts in order to understand the context of laws. Understanding the law is more important than memorizing because without truly knowing how the law works, you will never know how to apply it in answers. So, read texts and understand well before you attempt to memorize authorities.
- You need to plan on your field of personality based on the laws that you study. Otherwise, you will not find a suitable area of practice. You may feel that you’re just stepping into the studying part and that you will have time to decide which area of practice you want to enter into. Doing that will not be very helpful. In order to secure a job in desired area of practice, you have to have the skills and knowledge of that area. You can only gain these by investing time and effort from early on. So, start planning your career from now.
- There is no right or wrong answer. In law, there is no right or wrong answer. Unless you are answering the questions completely out of topic. As the law is available to monitor and govern order and control in a country, the application of the law depends entirely on facts and how you are putting forward your argument. If your argument is convincing with all relevant authorities, then there can be no wrong answer. However, precaution is very much needed.
- Attire says it all. You may not know the importance of it now because college times, right? You want fun outfits to rock your day. But do expect a complete shift when you start working in legal firms. Formal attires are your daily go to and you really have to watch it when you attend trials at court. We also court rules on attires and you are expected to follow it diligently. No excuses will be entertained. Ask any lawyers on this. They surely have some stories.
- Earning good money comes later. Go without expectations on salary. As we receive new students every year, we often hear that they chose Law because the salary for lawyers is excellent. Well, that may not be the case upon graduation but rather a picture you will get a few years down. You get to earn that good money with experience and experience comes with years of patience and effort. So, keep pushing and stay patient. You will see the day soon.
- Networking is very important. Whether you like the people you are working with or not, hold on to them. Building networks start early from your college days. With people, you will be exposed to a variety of experiences. Also, you will never know when you will need people with their specific expertise to work with you. Just as you can expect them, you will never know when people might need your expertise.