Costa Avgoustinos, a casual academic at UTS, UNSW LLM student and finalist at Tropfest in 2004, talks to survive law about his time at university, the diverse career opportunities he’s had and the importance to breaking out of that ‘I must be a lawyer’ mind set.
Why did you go to law school? or What’s so good about law school?
I got the marks. Thought I’d give it a shot even though I didn’t know much about law or what to expect. I stayed cause I found it fascinating. It was all-encompassing, talked about every facet of society and was really challenging (in a good way).
What kind of university life did you have with a law degree?
Pretty cruisy. I showed up when I wanted or felt I needed to. I didn’t contribute that much to class, or do much extra curricular stuff. I was pretty excited just to be free to do whatever.
How heavy is the workload compared to other degrees?
I did it combined with a media degree, and it took 10,000 times more of my effort, time and concentration. Law takes a lot of work.
How important is networking in the legal field?
It’s important. I think it is important everywhere. It does start at uni level though.
What type of career paths are there from this degree?
It helps with everything. Its an automatic tick that this guy is smart and a hard worker when you are applying for a job that has NOTHING to do with law. It gives you the edge.
How has a law degree helped you?
I teach law. So yeah, a lot. More generally, I felt I learnt a lot of different people. it attracts a lot of different kinds of people. It is interesting having a foot in the social justice pool as well as the corporate world in the one degree.
How much can law graduates from your strand earn?
A frigging lot if you go the corporate route, but I never did that so only have an illusion of it.
What was your motto that helped you survive law school?
I had to break out of the idea that ‘I must be a lawyer’ because I study law. When I started telling myself that AND believing it, I felt pretty free, and survival was easier.
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