Paul Sigar
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
WORDS BY MAXIM BUCKLEY Me and the law have never had a particularly good relationship, not because I’ve ever been on the wrong side of it, more so because I find it difficult to wrap my head around it. Add the fact that I think Ligertwood is one of the most heinous looking buildings on campus and you really have a recipe for disaster. Despite this, I’ve somehow managed to make a bunch of friends who study law, I’d probably go as far to say that the majority of my university friends hail from the law faculty. However, I only know of one of them completing honours. Today I’m sitting down with my friend Paul Sigar. Paul completed his Bachelor of Laws with Honours in 2020 and his Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice in 2021 and is currently a practicing lawyer in commercial litigation. “Essentially, if you’re invited to do honours and you take up that offer, your final year of your undergraduate degree becomes your honours year. So, no matter what, your law degree still takes the same amount of time”. This format is pretty interesting, especially to me since I already have completed my 22
undergraduate degree and honours, while technically still keeping me as an undergrad, is something extra I decided to do. However, unlike the poor engineers who have to what sounds like fully fledged scientific honours whilst also completing their normal courses, the law honours degree is split into two distinct semesters. “In semester one you’ll start working on your thesis topic, but predominantly your time is still taken up by classwork. These classes are about how to do research in law and how to present your findings. Your second semester is completely dedicated to your thesis” “I can’t remember how many words the thesis is…it’s too many, whatever it is”. Paul is a little unique in my opinion since he didn’t complete a double degree and instead just studied straight law. “I guess looking back it would have been a smart idea to do a double degree because I have interests in other areas. But I suppose I got this exposure through my electives. The biggest bonus is that I completed my degree in four years as opposed to five”.
