The first thing that springs to mind would be one of two things for many. Imagine a dark, dusty, antique office: littered with academic papers and never-ending mountains of books, blocking the meagre sunlight coming in from a tiny window. Don’t forget the endless hours of tense nail-biting pressure gained from trying to navigate the intricate legal lexicons and loopholes.
Then there’s the ideal image of a legal career. Specifically, one that reflects an episode of Suits. Clearly in every student there’s a Harvey Specter waiting to break out as soon as we all graduate: success from day one, winning every complex case, and of course being promoted to senior partner within 5 years.
Unfortunately, something tells me that a legal career is nothing like that. Thankfully, neither is it entirely like the first scenario, it isn’t just one extreme or the other.
One thing you can be sure of is that, all the years of building experience and academic study will finally be utilized and it will be up to you to shape your career. Law is such a vast subject and that’s clearly reflected in the different specialisms and career paths you could choose to focus on. There isn’t a generic template that can be put to everyone. I expect a career in law to develop and challenge me as a legal professional, and as a person.
Unfortunately, we can’t all be Harvey Specters. What then can you expect from a career in law, when perhaps the closest idea you’ve gleaned so far is from dramatized TV shows or work experience placements from hell? In order to get the best answer to this question, one would have to be realistic and ask: what motivates me to pursue law? Hopefully from that, the answers should become a bit clearer.