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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why someone would do a law degree

144 replies

ACatCalledColin · 24/03/2014 22:22

if they had no intention of becoming a lawyer?

A friends daughter is starting university in September, she's going to be reading law. She's going to an ex-poly, not a 'bad' one by any means, it's more in the middle of the league table.

Anyways I was talking to her today and the subject of university came up and I asked her if she was worried about what might happen after university - if she would struggle to get a training contract because she went to an ex poly and she said 'oh, I don't want to be a lawyer, actually, I just like law. I'll probably end up working in PR or something like that anyways'.

Maybe it's just me but I genuinely don't understand why someone would study law if they weren't even slightly interested in a career in law. It's not like it's an interesting subject, is it? It's very boring and dull so it's not like anyone can use the excuse that you simply like the subject.

I would have thought a humanities degree or even a business one would be more relevant for PR anyways (and more interesting too. )

OP posts:

Archibald · 24/03/2014 23:02

My best friend has a law egret from a RG uni.

She's now a (very) senior Social Worker.

I'd say that's relevant?

Pregnantberry · 24/03/2014 23:02

It's not like it's an interesting subject, is it? It's very boring and dull so it's not like anyone can use the excuse that you simply like the subject.

Goady OP if ever I saw one!

Clearly some people do find it interesting, such as the girl in question! My friend, when he was doing a law degree, regularly got into heated debates about law/ethics with his mates which they were clearly very passionate about. It's really no different to doing a history or eng lit degree as a ticket into various career tracks like journalism/hr/management/etc.

TillyTellTale · 24/03/2014 23:03

P.S. I thought A level law was fascinating. We're all different.

LittleprincessinGOLDrocks · 24/03/2014 23:04

I studied Law at A-level just because I thought it would be interesting. Plus having an academic subject padded out my somewhat arty farty CV (think Performance art / Media / video production / Film studies) and did me a lot of good when I finally chose a career path.
I really enjoyed my first year of Law. My tutor was an ex police officer (I think he may have been a detective at some point) and he made the law interesting. He had little stories from his days as a police officer that helped us to remember the different types of law (torte etc).
He also used to have little code names for certain cases that we had to know for the exams - "the scratch and sniff" will forever stick in my mind!
He was entertaining and funny and therefore it was a pleasure to learn.
Year 2 however I had an awful teacher. She made it so dull, everything was just copied from the board, there were no stories, anecdotes or funny sayings. So I lost interest, which is a shame.

My favourite thing was going in to court and sitting in on an attempted murder trial, then chatting to the police officer from the case about what he had seen at the scene whilst the court was adjourned. Very interesting, as was watching the story unfold in court.

The law isn't all boring facts. It is cases (stories if you will) of humans doing sometimes stupid things and how society has responded to it.
If I were to go back to education I would probably read Law.

Original poster

ACatCalledColin · 24/03/2014 23:05

Did you really ask her if she was worried about going to an ex-poly?

Let me clarify.

I'm not at all snobby about ex-polys. I went to one myself and it hasn't done me any harm. I think a degree from an ex-poly can sometimes be better than a one from a Russel Group one, mainly for vocational degrees such as nursing, teaching, etc.

However it's widely accepted that if you want to be a lawyer it's best to go to a Russel Group university. See my previous post.

OP posts:

Alisvolatpropiis · 24/03/2014 23:06

I read law.

It genuinely baffles me that someone would do the same with no intention of pursuing it as a career.

If I had my time again I certainly wouldn't.

She'll end up being a paralegal like all the other law grads. And then stuck on a career path she doesn't really want.

Didn't clock the name of the poster who essentially, but rather less eloquently said there was no point in doing law unless as ucl, Oxbridge or Durham but I know many solicitors/ barristers who didn't attend any of those universities. They managed and are still managing perfectly well.

rootypig · 24/03/2014 23:07

YABVU. Law is a social science, it is one of the means by which society articulates its norms. Like economics or politics, it is more widely relevant than its profession. More than that, we all have a stake in its outcomes......the profession should by no means have the monopoly on its ideas and principles.

gordyslovesheep · 24/03/2014 23:08

studying law lends it's self to lots of areas of work - such as welfare rights support, charity work, work with asylum seekers or refugees, advisory work within local authorities/charities etc, social work, social policy development and tons of unrelated stuff

many graduate options just want a good degree regardless of subject or 'polyvesity'

I am laughing more at your assumptions than her choices - if you like a subject why NOT study it ...get a good degree ...then use it to move in 100's of different directions?

Original poster

ACatCalledColin · 24/03/2014 23:09

I studied Law at A-level just because I thought it would be interesting.

Fair enough. I studied Law at A Level for the same reason - I though it would be interesting. I didn't find it interesting at all, quite the opposite. I'm glad you enjoyed it though.

You see, now that sounds interesting.

OP posts:

Original poster

ACatCalledColin · 24/03/2014 23:10

^thought.

OP posts:

hunreeeal · 24/03/2014 23:10

A degree can be for the love of learning, and gaining skills in research, debate, academic rigour, presentation, analysis, adaptability, etc. It doesn't have to have anything whatsoever to do with future work. As it happens though, a knowledge of law can be useful in many fields.

dashoflime · 24/03/2014 23:11

Thinking about this a bit more, I will concede that law isnot interesting at first
Its like saying Italian is not interesting because its just memorising lots of words. The interesting bit comes after you've memorised so many words that you can actually speak to another person in Italian.
Or if you said that chess is boring because its just learning combinations of moves. Once you understand the combinations you can fit them together to play a game.
When you master the building blocks, law is actually a very creative and flexible discipline

Original poster

ACatCalledColin · 24/03/2014 23:11

I think the post you're talking about was a sarcastic response to my OP.

OP posts:

Zoezeebo · 24/03/2014 23:15

If you had a law degree it opens so many jobs (solicitor, policewoman, lawyer etc) however if she doesn't want to do the career in law she might just be studying it for further curriculum and maybe she was intrested in the subject.

GetWhatYouNeed · 24/03/2014 23:16

It might be an idea for her to investigate the focus of the particular course. My son is at uni and one of his housemates has just decided to give up his law degree at the end of the second year and rethink what he wants to do, as apparently he had no intention of becoming a lawyer, but in fact the course is very much focussed on that end.

AveryJessup · 24/03/2014 23:17

Status, I imagine. People respect a law degree more than a humanities or business degree, unfortunately.

Ironically with a law degree she might stand a better chance of getting a job in PR than with a humanities degree in languages or something that you would think would be relevant. Employers like to see that you have applied yourself at university and there is a prevailing prejudice out there that arts graduates have done nothing but piss around and party and disappear up their own arses for 4 years.

And I say that as someone who did an arts degree and has been wishing every since that I did law or something that people actually respect!

kerala · 24/03/2014 23:18

To be fair you would struggle to get a training contract in a city firm without a 2.1 from a top university. I scraped in with my degree from Cardiff but everyone else i met there was Oxbridge / UCL / Harvard. Most were public school too.

GreenLandsOfHome · 24/03/2014 23:22

It's very boring and dull so it's not like anyone can use the excuse that you simply like the subject

Yabu.

I did A Level law and A Level Pure Maths.

Not everyone's cup of tea but I found neither boring. I also never had the least intention to work in Law or become a mathematician.

manicinsomniac · 24/03/2014 23:23

If she doesn't want to go into Law then YABU. A Law degree can open lots of other door and, if she finds it interesting, that's an added bonus.

However, if she did want to go into law, YANBU about the ex poly concern. I had this exact conversation with my sister's partner who is a lawyer at the weekend. He was saying that there are over 100 institutions where you can study law but only a few universities that a good law firm will consider hiring from. It's one of the snobbiest professions out there. I was surprised to hear there's so few law courses that are considered 'up there' but have no reason to doubt him (especially as he reckons he's from one of the 'qualifies as good by the skin of its teeth' law courses)

4PlusMum · 24/03/2014 23:24

I don't think your law A level makes you an expert on the recruitment practices of major law firms. You sound like you have a major chip on your shoulder about the legal profession.

Caitlin17 · 24/03/2014 23:28

In my day most but by no means all law graduates went into practice but it was accepted a good law degree was as good as a good arts or science degree for careers such as banking or the civil service which just required any degree not vocational specific ones. Also then law degrees were only issued by the traditional, older universities.

What an odd thread.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 24/03/2014 23:29

I think you do get more typecast doing it though.

Although having said that I was talking to some friends recently and we were saying that now there's so much pressure for graduate jobs and on funding for academics that doing a degree just for the academic side/love of the subject isn't that feasible any more, unless you also get some good transferable skills from it.

GillTheGiraffe · 24/03/2014 23:31

Law is fascinating.

I did an A level in it at age 42.

I wish I had been able to do a Law degree.

Without laws we would have anarchy.

RhondaJean · 24/03/2014 23:32

I find law fascinating. I studied some law (contract, employment etc) as part of my business degree. I would love to do an LLB sometime when I have time and money to invest in me.

I'm near Glasgow but I would probably study at Strathclyde as an interest course - agree about the snobbery and if I was doing it as a career I would want to be studying at Glasgow uni.

LizzieHexham · 24/03/2014 23:33

I would agree with whoever said a law degree from one of the traditional universities (in Scotland Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow follied by Dundee and Strathclyde) is more likely to get you a traineeship than the others

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