I think there's a common misconception that if you don't become a lawyer
with the law degree, you've wasted it, but it’s very much not the case.
There's so many different avenues that you can go down
and you don't have to be restricted to becoming a lawyer.
I mean, over the years and I've taught students some, I'm
thinking back to pathways, career pathways that students
I can remember have taken that have kind of used
their legal knowledge in one way or the other.
I mean, some have,
I guess, sort of drawing on what we've been talking about with regard to,
you know, those transferable skills that law helps develop.
Certainly the communication skills,
you know, precision and use of language, that sort of thing.
Being able to make sense of large volumes of information and
then communicate it clearly to different audiences.
So things like journalism, example, working in
human resource management.
So you're kind of working with people in a different way
you might work with clients in legal practice,
but you're still very often dealing with, you know, rules and regulations.
You might be within a particular area of law, like employment law.
In the past, I can recall students
who've expressed an interest in sorts of work in areas of
policy reform or work around law reform,
the sort of work that the Law Commission or think tanks would do.
And that, I think, highlights the relevance of
of law to related disciplines as well, like
politics, especially.
Students have gone into management
work in the private and public sector as well.
And some have found, you know,
going back again to a point I think we were talking about,
which is like finding something that really sparks your interest,
you know, to find an area within the undergraduate curriculum and think
I really want to take that further.
I didn't have the opportunity to do that.
So they've gone off to do a Masters and a PhD.
So some of the students now I've been teaching long enough
to see some students who've gone on to become lecturers themselves.
Of course, within law you've got
those roots that you were talking about as well, you know, whether that might be
within a specific area like criminal law or family law.
I think it's important to say, though, that a lot of the,
you know, friends and colleagues that I had
when I was here did go on to become lawyers,
so, you know, you’re fed this line
when you're a young student, that becoming a lawyer is really, really difficult.
And it's not without its challenges.
But if you want to go on and do that,
this university gives you the the skills that you need to do it.
A lot of my friends are now lawyers, but I also had a friend
who's now an MP, someone who works in finance.
I don't know anyone who,
you know, was limited by their experience here.
So I think that's important to say.
Yeah, I think law opens so many more doors than it could ever close.
Yeah. As a subject to study at university.
I wish I kind of knew more of this advice
though when I was probably in my younger years
because I think it's like you said, you are kind of fed
not a lie, sometimes like a myth as well that surrounds the subject of law.
And if I'm honest, when I was like 17, even during my first years of university,
I kind of thought the only routes you ever have is
barrister or solicitor, or even if you wanted to go into like paralegalling
that always has to then lead on to wanting to do more.
And I think, I don't regret the route I've taken, but I would have liked to know
all the different kind of pathways and options that there possibly are.
And I speak to people now that I've graduated with, and some of them are like,
Yeah, I'm a paralegal, but I don't have any other plans.
I enjoy what I'm doing.
You don't need to constantly strive to aim for
barrister and solicitor. I may be biased because I am wanting to be a solicitor,
but I don't know if you've had the same when you kind of come out of college
or sixth form and you’re going in, you do maybe from parents or teachers
or other people who maybe aren't
as informed as the lecturers and the people at the university,
and just that kind of mindset that if you go to law,
you need to be a barrister or a solicitor.
Yeah, prior to coming onto the university,
that's the only route I thought that you could take when studying law.
But like now going into my second year, I know that there's more opportunities and,
and what Phil said, it actually does open more doors rather than closes it.
For example, like if you don't
want to take the traditional route and become a lawyer or solicitor
there’s other doors, such as work in the probation service, for example.
So it doesn't necessarily close the doors.
It in fact, it opens more.
So I think there's a common misconception that if you don't become a lawyer
with your law degree, you've wasted it.
But it’s very much not the case. I think it's
as well people sort of look at law as one of those subjects
that they're not eligible to study that because they don't come from a
a history of a lawyer family.
They don't come from a a wealthy family or an aristocratic.
But that's completely not the case.
And it may have been
in the years gone by, but
I think everybody from all different
backgrounds brings a different skill to law,
whether that be in legal practice or in a completely different job.
I think we all bring something unique to it.
So people shouldn't be discouraged from studying a law degree
because it's important that you back yourself and do it.
Don't feel that you can't do it,
but also study it with an open mind because like you said there's
so many different avenues that you can go down
and you don't have to be restricted to becoming a lawyer.