These are the transcripts for the videos Law student experience
Nick:
What attracted me to do Law was my grandfather. So he was a lawyer back in the days of the Soviet Union, and I would hear stories from my dad about how he would fight for the greater good in a country that usually wasn’t very just. So I grew up hearing those types of stories, and that inspired me to become a lawyer and try and make a positive change.
I chose UTS for my Law degree for a couple of reasons. I had a close family friend who attended UTS Law, and he only spoke of his positive experiences there, and then I also heard about the reputation of UTS Law as being quite an innovative university in the way that they designed their courses and in the classroom as well.
Currently my favorite subject that I have done has been contracts, especially because Chris Croese was the subject coordinator and my teacher of it. I always like his wacky emails with many hyperlinks thrown throughout it for YouTube videos.
I feel like he just makes all the content very enjoyable and makes hard concepts quite easy. I think the most rewarding part of my degree at UTS has been my friends that I’ve met along the way.
Coming into UTS Law I had pretty much no friends, but I feel like the people that I’ve met along the way through the Law Society, and through my classes have been the greatest part of my law degree so far.
Another thing that I’ve been involved in is the Brennan Program, that’s really helped me engage with social justice issues in the community, really raised my awareness of social justice issues within the wider scope of the law.
The advice that I would give future law students is know what you are coming into. Law is quite a heavy degree with a lot of reading and it takes a lot of work, but if you come into it knowing what you must do, and surrounding yourself with like-minded people who are willing to push you, then i feel like it will become a very enjoyable experience.
The other highlights that I’ve had at university is meeting my current girlfriend. She also studies law here so that’s been a great positive, she’s a great person.
Georgia:
What attracted me to law was I really enjoyed studying legal studies in high school, and other humanities subjects, such as, geography and history, and I thought that I wanted to do a degree that would challenge me and be along those lines, but also complement a Business degree.
I chose UTS because I heard it was a great university for both Law and Business, and a lot of my friends said that they loved it. They loved the people, the staff, the environment! I liked that in class it was very conversational and they were willing to help you out if you had any difficulty. I think some of the topics I found particularly challenging, and they were willing to go the extra mile to make sure that I understood.
As part of the Law Society, I’m really involved in mooting, so it’s like what you see in movies it’s the fake court scenes, researching cases in the past and looking how you can use that to launch an argument. Every time I get to stand up and speak to the judge it’s a really nerdy adrenaline thrill that I love.
If I had some advice for law students, it would be number one, get involved in the Law Society. It’s the best thing no matter what you’re interested in, there’ll be something that the Law Society can do for you.
I’ve gotten involved with competitions, volunteering, social justice initiatives, there’s also socials and sports.
Another piece of advice would be to form study groups with friends. If you can get together with other people, write notes together, and discuss hard concepts, it’ll help you grapple with them and understand them better, and it’s those people that I think are going to be lifelong friends. I currently work for a barrister, which I really love doing. I get to go to court with him, I get to write documents, arrange matters, research things, and I think the legal experience is something that’s helping me put what I learned in the classroom into practice.
Even though I started university thinking I would go into business, it’s now completely changed for me, because I’ve loved the course so much. So I think advocacy is going to be where I end up, so maybe as a barrister or in politics or legal advocacy of some form.