When I first heard that I was perfectly compatible to study law, I was obstinate. Truth be told, I wasn't just obstinate; I was outraged. You see, at my high school, it felt like there was an unwritten rule that if you were academically inclined you had a sort of duty to go study either engineering, accounting or medicine. Those were your three options. I was already thinking about deviating from the "big three" (to some of my teachers' horror) as I was considering marine biology. Law was definitely not on my list because there appeared to be another unwritten rule: if you weren't academically inclined then law was your safeguard. Therefore, due to the stigma that surrounded law, I never considered it. The seed had, however, been planted and after a year I finally realised that law was exactly what I was looking for. In January 2015 I started studying BA.Law and by November 2019 I was two degrees richer-ready to start my career in law. Before reaching that point I had to make a lot of decisions. I can now see which decisions were better than others, having some retrospective knowledge, and hopefully, after reading this, should you be thinking about studying law it can give you a bit of guidance.
The first decision that I had to make, was where I would study. My brother had studied at Potch (North-West University) and throughout my high school career, I was convinced that I would be following my brother's footsteps. I wanted a new adventure, as most 18-year-olds do, in a new place with new people. Mostly, I wanted to study in a proper student town, such as Potch or Stellies, with a prevalent student culture. UP was more known for being convenient and its academic standard. After a serious heart to heart with myself, I realised that I had to stop fooling myself. I was not my brother. The thought of leaving the safety net of my family terrified me. I had to realise that should I go to Potch there was no quick stop for a coffee with my mom when I was homesick, lonely or stressed and no phoning my dad to come fetch me when I was very ill. For the most part, I would have a screen stuck between my family and I and for me that was just not an option. I was more attached to home than my brother and it took me a while to realise that that was okay. More importantly, Tuks has an esteemed law faculty and once you start applying for jobs you will realise just how important your university's reputation really is. It is a hard truth that you are more likely to get work if you've studied at a prestigious university such as Wits, Tuks, UCT, UKZN or Stellies, just to name a few. The fact that my high school boyfriend and most of my friends would study at UP definitely had a major influence on my decision. Now, if you still need to decide where you'll be studying in future, you need to hear me loud and clear: do NOT let your high school boyfriend influence you as to where you are going to study! I know that you feel like you will be together forever, and maybe you are right, but chances are more likely that in two years time you two will be broken up and instead of following your gut and studying where you truly should be studying, you are stuck in a place where you don't want to be. Friends shouldn't be too much of an influencer either. During the first year of varsity, you will meet hundreds of people and make so many new friends that by the end of the year you will barely speak to 80% of your high school friends. I know that you aren't going to listen to me and like every person at that stage of your life, you are going to allow yourself to be influenced by the relationships you have now because you feel like they will last forever, but at least now, should things end badly, I can say "I told you so."
My next important decision was which type of law I would be studying. UP made three types available: BA.Law, LLB and BCOM.Law. Should you decide to study BA/BCOM.Law, you would get two degrees in five years; where should you study LLB you would get one degree in four years. Again, stigmatisation came into play. BA.Law's requirements were much lower than LLB or BCOM.Law's requirements. I had no interest in BCOM subjects, such as economics and accounting, so that was not an option, therefore I signed up for LLB. Even though BA.Law's modules, such as Languages, History, Philosophy and Psychology, were right up my alleyway and I knew that I would love studying English and History; I was blinded by the low requirements and the thought of what that would say about me. I had been discouraged by many in the legal profession, including my mother, against studying LLB as there was and still is a lot of concern regarding the quality of the four year LLB amongst the legal fraternity. This concern, together with a nagging feeling at the pit of my stomach that something just did not fit right led me to go see Prof Kok (the greatest man at UP) to get some advice. He finally helped me realise that you generally only have one opportunity at university and you have to make the most of it by learning everything you could possibly learn. Getting two degrees in five years also made more sense than getting one in four years. So I quickly changed my application and in 2015 I started my course. I would encourage all to do a BCOM/BA. Law as you can really make the most of the opportunity you are given to study and explore other subjects that you may feel passionate about. That extra year of varsity also just gives you the extra maturity you need before stepping into the workplace.
Home or residence? I would recommend staying in a residence of some sort if that is a possibility for you. Most universities have traditional or non-traditional residences. I had stayed in both during my university career. I loved my traditional residence (House Madelief), but I'm the kind of person for whom tradition, events and house pride is important. When you're away from home, it helps to have the support of your house sisters/brothers. The people around you will become like family, especially after bonding through initiation. It's a great place to make friends for life and a house that will forever be your pride. You will make memories that will stay with you forever- I will never forget the fun we had whilst partaking in Serrie or my best friend running into my room in her PJs at 21:30, listening to hear whether Aandklas sounded like a great night. If it did, we would quickly get ready and thereafter dance the night away. You learn to be more independent, in a safe environment. You slowly start taking on more responsibility: you learn to do your own laundry, be savvier with your money and make your own doctor's appointments. It is also best for your parents' sanity that they don't know at what time you arrive home from a night out. There are also disadvantages to staying in residences- the food is not great; you have the added pressure of taking part in events and you have additional academic obligations as you have to obtain a certain average to remain in the residence. If you were never the school spirit type then rather go for the non-traditional residences or stay at home. You will still make loads of friends and have support, but without initiation and traditions which for you would just be a pain.
The law faculty is unlike any other faculty, with its own rules and perks. The whole atmosphere of the faculty is different. The people studying it are also definitely a breed of its own. Legal tests and exams are unlike any other faculty's and need to be answered in a very specific way. If you battle to figure out the formula (ID the problem, define the problem, state applicable case law, apply applicable case law and conclusion) the tests can be very frustrating. Studying law will always keep you humble as you will fail, at least once. But I also have some good news: you will also survive the humbling experience of failing. My best friend, Jan-Wilkens, always says you can have a pity party for 10 minutes during which you feel extremely sorry for yourself but then get back up and carry on. That is what you will do. The study of law will force you to face socio-economic issues prevalent in our country as well as debates on ethics. It will be your choice whether you will do anything to help the good fight or not, but you will never be able to claim ignorance again. You will most likely have to do a few group projects which will feel like eating soup with a fork. The law library is the best place to meet people and have lively debates that will help form your thought process and open your mind to new possibilities. To get your law degree takes a village and it is at the law library where your village will meet up and help you through your degree. I met the most amazing people with whom I have the best memories and if it wasn't for them, I would never have gotten my degree. You will be exposed to most aspects of law and hopefully find some aspect, such as criminal law, jurisprudence or private law, that you will fall in love with. If you are one of those students who randomly chose law or whose parents forced to go study law, I wish you luck. If you are not passionate about at least one aspect of law, these 4-5 years will be painful and life is just too short to waste that kind of time. My hope for all who study law is that when you walk into the law building, you feel home.
You will start feeling the pressure of finding a job almost as soon as you step onto campus. It is a weight that you will carry with you throughout your years at varsity and by your penultimate year of studies, it will feel like it will eat you alive. Ironically enough, your university years won't even really prepare you for a career in law, but rather to be an academic. So be prepared to step out of varsity being completely unprepared, except for having some basic theory knowledge that can help you in practise if you haven't forgotten it all as soon as you stepped out of the exam hall. You will get pressure, from day one, to get into the top 10 law firms. You will need to apply from your second year of study to do vacation work. Each law firm gets approximately 700-5000 applications and from there they choose about 6-12 students, twice a year. You will go through a grilling week or two weeks of vacation work during which you will get a feeling for the firm, have to do assignments of some sort and try and impress. From there, you will probably be invited to an interview. Should it go well, you will get signed, if not, you will get rejected. I repeat, law keeps you humble because by the end of your studies you will have received hundreds of rejections. In order to even be considered for vacation work you will need to be academically strong, have a great CV and cover letter (shout out to Elzet Hurter for her amazing help in that regard) and you need to have done extra-curricular activities, preferably ones that make you stand out- for me, it was being a newsreader on TuksFM. No pressure right? There is, however, some good news. Firstly, being an attorney is not your only option. It is not the be-all and end-all. You could become an advocate, prosecutor, judge's clerk, magistrate, judge, professor, in-house counsel, you could work for a bank or insurance company or you could go into politics or business. You will have to take the time and effort to find out more information about your options: shadow as many people in as many sectors of law as possible, do some independent study and take advantage of courses such as the Trial Advocacy Course (I did and I loved every minute of it!). If attorney work is what you want to do, then the top 10 is not your only choice. Top 10 law firms are great because you work on incredible matters on an incredible scale and your benefits are sufficient for you to stop living out of the pockets of your parents. You will, however, work a minimum of 12 hours a day, under immense pressure and do a lot of the grunt work, rather than gain actual experience. Medium- to small-sized law firms are therefore to some extent better in that you get so much more experience during your articles and the hours are probably more manageable. The problem, however, is the pay. You could be looking at R6 000 a month should you work in Pretoria or much less and then you have no guarantee that you will be retained as there is probably no money to retain you on an admitted attorney's salary. This is a big financial strain on parents. And if no one has mentioned this to you, should you want to become an advocate, you need to do a year of pupillage, which is completely unpaid. There are therefore some financial aspects which you need to take cognisance of. If you are worried about studying law because you don't have the typical law personality (loves arguing and problem-solving, wants to make a difference in the world, loves the intoxicating thrill that comes with the pressure that you work under and wants to make some mega bucks) then don't fear because there are so many avenues of law, you just need to go out and find them.
Before studying law, you need to take some time and introspect. It is a long and hard process. It requires a lot of studying, a lot of hours and a lot of sacrifices. To become an admitted attorney you will need to complete 1-2 years of being an article clerk, you will need to attend PLT classes and you will need to pass your attorney admission exams. You will get home after a very long day at the office, where you will probably get shouted at a couple of times and continuously feel the adrenalin pump as you are put into situations where you have no idea what to do, then you will either need to attend PLT classes or study for your board exams. It takes a lot of self-discipline and motivation. It is not an easy time in your life and you should probably warn the people closest to you that you will rarely see them. Once you reach the finish line, whatever route you've decided to take, you now have an immense burden on your shoulders: you need to be a fit and proper person. You need to have a strong sense of right and wrong (not only in your professional life but also personal); you need to be willing to learn continuously and give your clients your best every single day; you need to have a strong sense of justice; you need to be able to work under pressure and solve dozens of problems and hopefully, you want to do some good in this world. You get to wear the fancy clothes and work in a fancy office block, but this is not Suits and the only way to be successful is through an incredible amount of hard work. Make sure that you have impeccable literacy skills, as you will be needing them. Read. Read a lot and never stop reading. In a field where you earn your bread by convincing others, it will help to have a few synonyms in your back pocket. Make sure that you understand the term "professional" and make it your own. You will have a much higher standard from which you will be judged- a burden constantly on your shoulders and something not to be taken up likely. However, if you're studying law just to make a lot of money that is fine too, just don't be crooked about it. An amazing, esteemed advocate, Linda Retief, once told me, that the law is a jealous mistress. It will want to take everything out of you. The pumping adrenaline that you experience every day can be addictive which in turn can take its toll. Make sure that the sacrifices that you are going to have to make, is worth it to you.
My greatest advice that I can give you: make the most of these years of learning and make sure that you'll have plenty of memories to one day tell your grandkids about. Hopefully one day I'll meet you in the courtroom.