Don't worry if you don't want to be a lawyer
“You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose”
- Dr Seuss
It can be daunting... studying a law degree. You work incredibly hard for four years or more, but you're not sure if it's really worth it. Do you even want to be a lawyer anymore? Most law students will likely go through this thought pattern at one point or another. However, it's super important not to let your anxiety of the future take over. Understand that your career is long. Really long. Making a choice is just for now.
You have a long life to live
What you decide to do right now does not necessarily determine what you will be doing in 20 years time. It’s easy to project too far into the future, but this is a damaging habit and can mean that you don’t enjoy your time doing what you like now. If you decide in 5 years time that you no longer want to practice law, that’s totally fine. Strive for short-term goals and be micro-ambitious. You never know where you might end up. Tim Minchin once said, “If you focus too far in front of you, you won’t see the shiny thing out the corner of your eye.”
Make sure your decisions are for your own reasons
You need to seriously sit down and decide what you want and why you want it. Why do you want to be a lawyer? Seriously, have you ever asked yourself that question or are you just going through the motions? It’s really important to make sure you are making career choices for your reasons. Not your parents. Not your partners. Not because it sounds good. To be successful in anything you need to be doing it for your reasons, no one else’s. So sit down, think about what you want, and go after that.
Be as patient as possible with yourself
Patience is an important quality to develop. However, this is not a skill that we pick up overnight. Law students tend to be competitive by nature and can become disillusioned with slow rates of self-improvement. But you need to remember that you are your harshest critic and that everyone moves forward at different speeds. Instead of beating yourself up next time you get a lower mark than you expected, or lost a moot you really wanted to win, try to acknowledge that you are only human. Don't give up on a law degree because you don't think you're not good enough. You wouldn't be here, reading this, if you weren't. Being patient with yourself is imperative if you wish to succeed in not just your chosen field, but life.
We know this blog post got a little deep, but it wouldn’t be LawLancer though without a big dose of the important personal elements that make up your career decision making. If you want to be a part of the LawLancer revolution, launching early this year, sign up now!
Does anything make a law student more stressed than thinking about landing a graduate job? With more people than ever graduating from law school, the competition has never been so fierce. But fear not! We have put together 17 tips to help you land your graduate gig!