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#**1126** (**permalink**) 23-09-2016, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tea

Hello! I'm a Y1 Law student at SMU and an avid follower of this thread. I've really valued all the advice given by school seniors and working professionals so far and would like to submit my own dilemma for direction and enlightenment.

Some background: I'm a person with no specific interests in life, and I draw a blank whenever someone asks me what I want to do/be in the future. I'm in Law because
- I never expected to get in and was too excited to think twice when I did
- I've always enjoyed reading and fared better with words (as opposed to numbers)
- I wanted financial security, and a straightforward career path which risked no further indecision
- I was deliberating between NUS & SMU, so this gave me a perfect reason to choose SMU (I didn't apply for NUS Law).

After studying Law for about half a semester however, I came to realise that this degree/career may not really be the one for me. Here's another bulleted list detailing why:
- There's basically no use of creativity (at least not in the life-changing ways I would like) due to statutes/stare decisis
- Readings are boring and endless, apart from some especially messed up criminal cases
- I feel restless arguing over petty things like a particular word in the statute
- I want to play in my last few years of education, not suffer
- There's a glut of lawyers I'm not sure I can beat
- ...which raises the issue of (decreasing) salary
- I want to travel a lot in my future job, but the legal profession seems to be very local- and desk-bound

But of course, where there are pros, there are cons (to transferring):
- Complications with the Tuition Grant
- ...which will force me to fit 4 years' work into 3.5 or less
- Starting one semester late, meaning no friends/hall/basic knowledge
- I'm planning to take Business, but I'm terrified of the mathematical aspect of it
- SMU's new School of Law building AND Law library will be opening next sem!!! It'd be a waste if I leave right before I get to enjoy these new facilities
- I appreciate SMU's defining programmes e.g. their career training workshops, compulsory community service/internships & high number of overseas learning opportunities (86% of their students go overseas compared to NTU/NUS' 70+%, if I'm not wrong) but have not experienced all of them yet (of course I can do the same in NUS, but competition seems tougher + internships/community service being optional may cause me to slack off instead)

Anyway, for those of you who couldn't be bothered to read everything, I hope you can nonetheless provide answers to the following questions:
1. I've read articles that posit that the glut will not adversely impact the chances of local law graduates, just foreign ones (from less renowned schools) - to what extent is this true?
2. Can the law degree really open many doors? The way I see it, companies will be better off hiring actual business graduates than law ones due to their education and experience in that area.
3. Are law firms really biased against SMU graduates? What explains our slight edge in the Graduate Employment Survey, then? (I'm just curious!)

Thanks in advance everyone!

Having read through your post i sadly conclude that in my view you are in law school for all the wrong reasons and i would advise you to consider making a switch while you are still early in. I have been through the local law school and found myself right smack in the middle of the glut so i speak from my observations.

Unfortunately many of your motivation for choosing law holds true anymore. With the glut, the competition in the job market is very real and starting pay has been going down. It is not the stable job you are looking for. For that look at the teaching profession instead. Loving to read is unfortunately not a strength unless you love to read particular kinds of stuff like law articles and case reports , which i think you don't. Strangely you didn't give a shot at NUS Law which is to me an indication of lack of true interest in the subject. Of course you may gain an interest later but seeing how you comment on state decisis and only found certain criminal reports interesting, your interest in law is probably no higher than the kopitiam uncle.

I think the glut definitely hurts the local grads. Hearing from my juniors (your seniors) involved the TC treasure hunt, it is difficult to secure a TC for at least half of them. Of course local grads still stand a better chance so by end of Y4 the TC secured rate is much higher. Many firms try to have a mix of local and overseas grad so don't kid yourself. What's more at the retention stage the local vs overseas distinction is overlooked and it is who is a better employee.

I see law degree as more valuable as a business one of course. But that really depends on how well you do in your law degree and how much knowledge you have. If you go to the bank interview without knowing nuts about how a bank works behind the counter, the relevant laws, the relevant specialities and some solid interest in finance, you are not going to win the biz kid. If you end up with a law degree less than distinction or second upper i doubt the investment banks will yake another look at your resume. Cruel because law sch is damn tougher than biz or acc but true.

I don't think there is a bias against SMU. Every hiring partners have their own critieria, may sometime irrelevant one (sorry as long as they dont say it out you can't tell)( no judicial review for this Wednesbury unreasonableness, lol) . That said i think SMU build a reputation of being good at marketing themselves but turned out not as good as they sound. That got some partners cautious. NUS Law curriculum is more individuaistic i would say so little group work. That means it is damn tough to get a decent grade unless you know enough to smoke an exam or research paper on your own. I guess that's the difference. Doesn't mean nus is just better. Lol.