OUR REFLECTIONS

OUR REFLECTIONS CIARAN GRIEG

QUTLS PUBLICATIONS OFFICER

I was one of those people who stumbled into my law degree.

In high school, I developed a gut feeling that studying law would be something I could be good at, and something I could enjoy. And then - ta-da! Law and Business at QUT was on my QTAC form.

I am not proud of this: my complacency, the way I took the privilege of even studying at university for granted. It makes me think of a quote from Legally Blonde (2001): Do you think she woke up one morning and said, "I think I'll go to law school today"?

Unsurprisingly, I didn’t love my first year studying law.

I didn’t love it, and I also wasn’t very good at it. I consistently underestimated the workload, the assessment, and the readings. I moaned about using AGLC referencing. I cried over the way I stumbled through moots. I refused to yield to ISAACS and structured all my assignments the same way I did in high school. It was, in reflection, disastrous.

Why am I telling you this? This is super depressing, right? I’m telling you this because I hung in there. And I’m so incredibly glad that I did.

In my second year, I learnt to appreciate how the law interacts with our everyday lives. I grew to be inspired by the way the law can bend and change to reflect our values. I think I love the law because it isn’t perfect, but it is malleable and ever-changing. I love the law because law students like you and me can be part of that change. We can build new institutions and dismantle the societal structures that don’t serve us anymore. And we can do it all with words. All of the reasons that I love studying law today are things I realised after my first year.

If you’re looking for some insight into making the most of your years as a law student, this is my advice: Let yourself be challenged. I was so challenged by my first year of law. Not only by the work, but also by the rules I was asked to follow, the ideas I was asked to consider, and the logic I was asked to apply. It feels unnatural to continuously put ourselves in situations where we are uncomfortable, but by doing so, you might just discover something wonderful about yourself or the law.

Don’t be hard on yourself. I wish I had started practising this a long time ago. It’s natural to want to beat yourself up about a less than satisfactory grade, but it’s more important to reflect and think about what you will do next time.

Make space and time for the other things you love. I love creative writing, so I changed my degree so that I could study both creative writing and law. I think it’s so important that we pursue everything we love doing in some shape or form. I feel so grateful that I get to study two areas that I love and I constantly marvel at how they overlap. Good luck!

OUR REFLECTIONS FEBA PHILIP

QUTLS PUBLICATIONS OFFICER

Welcome to law school; where coffee is a necessity and legal jargon becomes a normal part of your day. My name is Feba Philip, I am one of your Publication’s Officers for this year and I study Law and IT.

I love what I do and I am so grateful for the opportunity but it’s been a journey with lots of ups and downs, twists and turns and lots of tears. you’re most likely never really going to find a perfect balance either. In your short time at uni, make sure to get involved with clubs, go to events and make the most of your uni experience. Your GPA does not determine your worth and life happens (aka the totally unexpected). Be kind to yourself. Timetables are lifesavers and I highly recommend blocking out your time.

I can’t say that I have straight 7’s or that I’ve got this whole law school thing down to a pat but I’m hopeful that going into my third year, I am more equipped than ever to tackle the year ahead.

As much as it is daunting, law school can be equally rewarding. Best of luck!

To say I was underprepared for the whole ‘uni experience’ would be an understatement. My cohorts’ journey was slightly different than most. Living through a pandemic was definitely not on my list of things to do in my first year of uni.

I’m not going to lie, when I first heard that we would be confined to our homes, I was relieved. The early morning starts, the long travel times and being behind on readings would be no longer. It meant saying goodbye to sitting in traffic for an hour and hello to sleeping in.

But online learning itself posed many challenges; the workload was intense and the content was heavy. It wasn’t easy, but over time I found myself adapting to this new way of learning.

The reminder of why I wanted chose my degrees in the first place and how much of an honour and privilege it was to study them really helped me get through the tough times. As much as Suits has played a massive part in my decision to study law, my passion for human rights and justice were just as or even more persuasive in swaying that decision.

There have been moments I haven’t done so well or stuck to my plan but it’s a journey of learning and instead of beating myself up over, I’ve learnt to take in my stride and grow from it.

If there’s anything I can pass on to first years, it’s that finding some sort of work-life balance is essential. It’s just as important to understand that