So You’re Going to study law?
Law has a bit of a reputation and at least half of that is justified. It’s not an easy subject to study and it’s a generally demanding and draining course. About half the people I know who studied it thought about changing to something else at some point or another, self included.
Don’t worry; you’ll be fine.
First off, you’re smart, capable and competent: hell you’ve got this far right?
Secondly, the following is advice from someone who’s come out the other side despite hating the damn thing initially. If I can do it, anyone can.
1. Don’t Take It Too Seriously
Law has this annoyingly intimidating edge to it: the terminology, the reputation, even the case names add up to make it feel like you’ve being judged by elderly old men even before you get anywhere near a courtroom. Don’t let phantom judges and seemingly overzealous students get the better of you: the more you learn the more you’ll realise that no one really knows what the law actually is. So muck around with it and snigger whenever you hear about briefs.
2. You Don’t Need To Be Smart To Succeed
Law is not difficult. It requires patience, perseverance and stamina but it’s not difficult. Studying Law is difficult for the reasons I’ve mentioned and in studying it you have to be smart, but never think you’re just too stupid to get something.
Even with restrictive covenants, if you don’t understand, it’s just that you haven’t done enough reading. You don’t need to be smart to succeed but you sure as hell need to be dedicated. Which is why you should…
3. Do The Damn Reading & Read the Damn Cases
I know it’s a pain and that it’s a slog, but you won’t get anywhere if you don’t do the basic reading. Otherwise you’ll be lost in lectures and generally feel demotivated and stupid if you haven’t put in the legwork. Do the reading and you won’t panic.
Reading tips: start with your textbook then move onto the main cases then work your way to the more obscure material. If you don’t have the time or energy for the cases avoid nutcases, they can be just wrong, but your textbook can be a perfectly good substitute.
4. Dude, Where’s My Motivation?
One of the trickier parts of studying law is that it is not immediately interesting. It’s interesting in its application and it’s interesting in its intellectual complexities but it takes a while before you’re actually engaging with the material.
Which is why you need to be motivated and not expect the work to do itself, so to speak.
You’re studying this degree for a reason: career, actual interest in the subject matter, prestige. And even if your motivation ends up just being “I’m doing this because I started it”, hold onto that. That is what will get you through the incredibly dull but necessary toil.
5. Keep Focused On What You Find Interesting and Remember That It Does Get Interesting
I said that Law is not immediately interesting and I know that often, particularly with topics such as Property Law or ADR in Public Law, it seems like it never will be. But there’s always some interesting elements in every area of law, some perspective that makes you sit back and say ‘huh’.
For some it’s the philosophical underpinnings, for others it’s the intellectual intricacies, seeing Law like a puzzle, for me it was the social and political implications. It’s there, even if you don’t immediately see it, so keep in mind whatever it is that makes you go ‘Ooh!’ to find ways to engage with the material.
Read articles, question assumptions: the law is never black letter.
6. Be Exam Focused
This doesn’t apply to those strange strange people who will work and work out of passion. What are you even doing here reading this anyway? While slightly cynical, structuring what you study based on what will come up in the exams is the easiest and most efficient way of studying.
Work out what topics you would like to write about, how long they will take to study and what’s likely to come up. Past papers and reading lists (a reading list sums up what they expect you to know) are vital here.
Specialise and focus on the topics that will definitely come up. Be only vaguely aware of the rest. Also, reading the cases is a great way to revise.
7. But be Prepared to Surprise the Examiner
Again, read articles. People often think of law articles as icing on the case cake but they’re more important than that: they’re what you need to do well in an essay question and an examiner may well overlook a shaky grasp of the law if you can cite a few inventive authors and bring in your own ideas. Westlaw is brilliant for this: just type in the topic you’re studying and you’ll find something interesting.
… and finally…
8. Don’t Panic
This is a ridiculously important, recurring point. A lot of what makes Law tiring is its reputation and a sense of it all being overwhelming. If you ever start to feel like you’ll never understand trust law or that there are too many cases to be humanly learnt or that everyone is so much smarter than you and you’re never going to make it: breathe. Take a step back. And realise that you’re okay.