Oxbridge :showing subject passion "for law"?? How?

[PassionForLAw]

Just curious really I can see how this would be obvious for English or history but how does one demonstrate a passion for law??

Volunteering at the Citizens Advice Bureau will give you some basic knowledge of Immigration, Consumer, Housing and Welfare Benefits Law.
As well as an appreciation of how the law effects ordinary people.

For Oxbridge I would advise reading around Roman law, it certainly forms part of the interview for Cambridge.

I am involved with a Cambridge college and I can tell you for certain they won't expect everyone to have had work experience in chambers. What they look for is genuine interest in the subject, and they are more than happy for this to come from free to access sources such as podcasts, library books etc. Many of the law firms push out podcasts (Hempsons have one that covers inquests and some other stuff)
As PP have said, courts allow free access so an afternoon in Old Bailey or a mags court nearby wouldn't go amiss. But the main thing they are looking for is critical thinking, you heard something on a podcast but what did you think about it, what did the speaker say or not say, evaluate their sources etc.

During A levels took part in mock trials, which I helped the school to organise. Also volunteered at local prison visitor centre, and read the law section of the Guardian. We also visited courts during that time, sitting in the public gallery. Magistrates and crown.

F

@PuddlesPityParty oh yes I know we are better off than single parent family living in a high rise on benefits etc but at the same time we are not living in a semi or a detached house, we do not have professional jobs, my dd has been exposed to many police incidents we have to be very careful and we don't have private schools etc.

I'm pointing out and maybe you missed this that we are in the middle? The middle... But not towards the top so privaledge students can use family connections to get in, people at a disadvantaged can get in but people in the middle, the middle like my dd who has grown up in a gritty area with no particular privaledge can't.

I'm very sorry if you find that goading? I think people with larger family networks and support do have that "privaledge".

@Whyherewego thank you so much and that's a relief to hear re chambers

Not wishing to sound goady but it doesn’t actually sound like your daughter IS passionate about the law if she isn’t doing any of what’s been suggested already or anything else! Are you sure studying law is her dream and not yours?

Law is an academically challenging course and can be very dry. It’s also a difficult profession to enter these days (I’ve been a lawyer for more than 30 years and it’s really tough now and with new AI tools being made available it’s going to be even harder in 5 years time to get a training contract or pupillage as there will be far fewer around).

if your daughter is pretty lukewarm about it, she’d be much better applying for a different degree anyway

If she’s engaged with the news and current affairs she’s already engaged with legal issues. Get her to drill down into passion subjects she can speak about.

Following wars, genocides, conflicts? International and national humanitarian law.

Social justice issues? Equality law

Online safety, social media accountability, digital harm, power of big tech companies? Online Safety Bill. Maybe look at the EU’s stronger regulation- the Digital Services Act and speak in the interview about how Brexit impacted on protection of British people against tech risks (as our law is weaker than the EU law)

Employment tribunals too

DS didn't end up applying for Law, but as a teen he suffered badly from insomnia and told me he literally used to lie in bed at night reading law books out of interest in how the law is structured, weird tort cases, key differences between US and UK law or English and Scottish law, to pass the time. It just fascinated him. Very geeky but as a starting point, I'd say reading up on the law, its structure, history, looking at historical law-defining cases, getting acquainted with quirky tort cases etc would help.
Interest and success in public speaking and debating at school could indicate strengths required of a barrister.
Closely following any big cases over recent years, like Wagatha Christie or the Post Office would help too, especially if you can talk knowledgeably about how law was applied and why given outcomes were arrived at.

@Katrinawaves no that's fine she doesn't know what she wants to do. Her a levels are a mix of humanity, history, pyscology, biolgy. She has limited herself with biology by not studying another science and she really wanted to study biology, so she tried out a chemistry lesson. Just as she was about to switch for some reason the school gave them some law work to do and she really enjoyed it
So much so she said she wouldn't drop history.. So that's why I was looking at chambers to try and get her in so she can see if she wants to do it!
She's emailing local solicitors as well
I'm going to point her to all the wonderful suggestions here and she will start to research and then see does she really want to pursue it
Thank you.

Autumn we did watch the post office series.

She needs to look back at both the scandal and inquiry, not rely on a dramatic interpretation. Basing long term decisions on one piece of work seems unrealistic.

What do you mean by humanity? Evidence of essay writing, logic and critical thinking is important. However you don't have to study a Law degree to become a solicitor or barrister, there are conversion routes, but a degree at 2:1 or above is usually required.

DS did a free residential at Oxford in 6th form. At least one of the colleges had essay competition for 6th form. Look on college websites for outreach opportunities. He got pooled after interview but didn’t get a place. They gave them a case study at interview so i would say read GCSE or A level law textbook. They say you don’t need prior knowledge but previous experience of example scenarios and key concepts would have been helpful. If you’d done law before you would definitely have had an advantage put it that way. If doing epq or a project eg in history pick something law based as can then talk about that. Many unis have taster lectures online now as part of virtual open days.

@LIZS she's looking and exploring what she wants to do. She's keeping options open. She's 17.
She thinks she would want full law degree rather than conversion course.
Unless something went dramatically wrong she will get 2.1 she's a top student. She's very good at everything and enjoys many of the subjects except maths but she still got an 8.
It's a nice problem to have but on the flip side she is having to think about big life decisions now

@grumpyoldeyeore that sounds interesting thank you.
I've got a really good idea now of how to approach this.

Start with why they want to study law. Is purely for the salary? Parental pressure? If so, law is not the right career path.

@ByHardyRubyEagle it's because they are wondering what to do and did some law things in school and she really enjoyed it

That’s what she’d need to voice. Make sure she understands the why behind just the enjoyment side of things. Also she would need to look at what she can offer the profession. What qualities does she think she has that would make her good at law etc. doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

She's a wonderful thinker, very clear logical etc.

Everyone who gets into Oxford or Cambridge is a top student though. And they don’t all get 2:1s or 1s. A good proportion get 2:2s and 3s.

I read law at the same time as a really clever bloke who’s now a High Court Judge. He got straight As at O and A levels (before A* existed as a grade) and he barely scraped a 2:2 every year in his exams. Law is a subject which is a combination of being able to assimilate and retain a lot of information, analyse it and apply it to a random fact pattern under time pressure and write coherently and convincingly. Certainly when I did my law degree, it was 5 essays in 3 hours, closed book and the fact patterns were twisty!

An A level that is taken seriously when applying for Law is History. The ability to extract salient points and collate facts from a variety of sources are good foundation skills.