What are they actually teaching us?

Here is a little low-down on what I think so far...

Interviewing and advising

I am going to fail this. Ok, hopefully not, but I'm certainly not feeling particularly confident. Basically what happens is that you get a bit of law in advance. Then you go in, meet a "client" for the first time, and interview them and give them advice on a legal problem based on the bit of law.

I have no trouble with the "client rapport" bit. Eye-contact, sympathetic noises, politeness etc. That bit is fine. However - working out the correct questions to ask and giving the right advice is a whole different matter! I so far have managed to get this completely wrong every time, and missed out something important, or downright just got the facts entirely backwards. I don't really see how this will improve, seeing as the problem is different every time so can't exactly prepare that much in advance.

Mock assessments start in October. Watch this space.

Business Law and Practice

I like this so far. Many people don't. Mostly those are the people who don't understand it though I think. Ok, so there is quite of lot of statute which I'm not so keen on, but I have an interest in the subject area, so I am enjoying the course at least until now. I can't wait to get to the juicy bits like share issues and stuff (although possibly I need to wait until the electives to really get into that...)!

Legal Writing

I don't have much to say about this. It's basically learning to write in a lawyer-like way. Evidently that doesn't mean using lots of latin and complex constructions. It's all about brevity and Plain English. Common sense really. You might imagine most people reaching Law School would have some skill in writing, but apparently that would be an incorrect assessment.

Practical Legal Research

Using hardcopy sources in the library find out the name of the defendant's dog in the case involving a border dispute, taking place somewhere in Nottinghamshire between 1567 and 1701. Hours of fun.

Property Law and Practice

I know what you are thinking. And no, apparently it isn't Land Law. It's a whole different kettle of fish it would seem. The lecturer at least is very good, and when she asked how many people hated land law about 90% of arms went up in the air, including her own. Not mine, incidentally. I am ambivalent towards Land Law. We haven't had a Small Group Session yet so the jury's out. I don't think I will love this, I also don't think I will hate it. I imagine I will happily do the work like a good little law student, and mostly enjoy it. But not as much as BLP or some other subjects though.

Civil and Criminal Litigation

This sounds fun. I am not planning on becoming a litigator, but isn't every young to-be-lawyer's dream ultimately based on picturing themselves in a courtroom, cross-examining the hostile witness and making them break down in floods of tears to confess that, yes, in fact they DID kill their husband/wife/lover/annoying postman?

PCFS

That's Professional Conduct and Financial Services. Seems straightforward enough, there isn't much to it. However, I fear I won't spot the professional conduct issues as they will apparently come up in all the different exams secretly. And if you miss one out in interviewing, you will fail. Ugh.


Still to come

Business accounts and solicitors' accounts. These involve numbers. I like numbers. All is well.

Revenue law. Again, numbers. All good.

Probate and administration of estates. Death doesn't appeal to me but I suppose this is the closest I will come to using Equity and Trusts Law on the LPC so I shouldn't complain.

Advocacy. See "Civil and Criminal Litigation". It's all about courtroom etiquette, and conducting fake trials and stuff. Sounds like great fun!

Drafting. A bit like legal writing but not. It's actually writing specific legal documents. This could go either way. I guess it depends on whether I will be any good at it.

I think that is all. So far so good. I hear people aren't supposed to enjoy the LPC and it's supposed to be boring, but so far I don't think so. I guess we'll see in a few months and see if I was wrong...

Whilst in my professional conduct class last week, I had a rather sobering, and terrifying, thought. I believe I have mused along these same lines earlier but it is becoming more and more real. I am actually going to be a lawyer. The professional conduct class in particular helped hammer this point home, as I really cannot imagine that I would have enough integrity to not accidentally reveal my client's secrets to someone or sleep with them by mistake... perhaps I should have gone for a less pressured career with less responsibility. Like a shelf stacker in Tesco's. Maybe they are still hiring.

Early observations

The LPC is volume-wise very heavy. Apparently more so at the beginning, then the workload eases off. I would have to agree, on first look, that this is certainly the case. I have plenty of preparation to be getting on with already and my first lecture isn't until tomorrow! But I like stuyding and being busy so all is well.

You have to be VERY organised on the LPC. This is mostly because you don't get told anything. All the information you need is in the packs you are given and you are expected to know what to do with it. This is a huge difference to the GDL where everything was spoonfed from Day 1. I don't mind this, I like organising stuff, but I can imagine it could lead to confusion for some people who aren't prepared to take much responsibility for their own timekeeping.

"Constructive feedback" is just another word for "slagging off". For interviewing and advocacy we have to present to the class or to each other and then receive feedback from them. I can't imagine anything worse than standing up in front of other law students and having them tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm not so keen on criticism per se, but at least when it is coming from a more senior person like a boss or tutor, I feel a bit more like it is justified. Coming from other students it just feels like plain old slagging off. Yuck.

I'm very excited about Accounts and Revenue Law. Perhaps Tax Law is where my future lies!

My last first day

The first day on the LPC is really nothing to get too excited about, but I already knew that from last year. There is a pep-talk about taking responsibility for your own learning and suchlike (some poor girl in the back fainted, it wasn't THAT boring), a tour of the building, and a couple of hours with our personal tutor handing in various forms.

This afternoon I spent two hours going through the timetable, which is quite frankly insane. It isn't the same every week, and there is a whole lot of compulsory independent learning to be done, so I am currently trying to decide on the best way to organise my work... I feel it's more important I try to get on top of what I need to do and when first, before I actually start doing it tomorrow.

On that note, I am returning back to my insane timetable.

Preparations for my first day on the LPC

So, tomorrow it begins. The Legal Practice Course, or what could be dubbed the Largely Pointless Course, if many more experienced legal minds are to be believed.

I have my multiple choice quiz answers, which I am not particularly convinced are correct, but I believe I've made a sufficiently good effort that they will not be showing me the door as soon as I arrive.

I have my multi-coloured forms, bearing my signature, as evidence that I agree to attend/to let them know if I cannot attend/to not look for porn on the Law School computers etc etc. (Somewhat disturbingly I have also agreed to follow the student regulations, but a copy will only be available after I've handed in the form... something fishy here... if only I knew anything about contract law ;)...)

I have my SRA (Solicitors' Regulation Authority) forms, to say I am enrolled as a student member and they are satisfied I am of good character and have not, in the past, been caught doing anything unsavoury. Such as looking for porn on the Law School computers.

I have my stationery all ready, apart from little page tags, which they didn't have in WHSmith, or Ryman, and a new pencil case and everything. I feel like it truly is, first day of school. Albeit this being my last EVER first day of school. Sniff.

I have my little airhostess suitcase ready to bring home yet another pile of law books, to take the spot of the ones from last year that I just about managed to fit under the bed, out of the way.

But most importantly - I have new shoes. They are possibly the most beautiful shoes I have ever seen, but to describe them to you lovely readers could reveal my secret identity. Suffice to say they are -for once- not pink!


Wish me luck!