Law School | Third Year Confessions

Welcome to the third year of your law degree! You're killing it and have worked your brain into a perfectly coordinated pile of legal jelly. You are a bloody legend, mate. If you're in the third year, that means that you've already overcome not knowing what day of the week it is, trying to customise a studying regime that works for you and balancing the workload of first-year law with working full or part-time.

We just thought we'd list a few things you've achieved so you can give yourself a well-deserved break to space out and celebrate your successes.

Finishing an assignment

This is too real, by third year you will absolutely jump for joy at finishing one assignment and yes napping is real hobby, okay? Give yourself the time to decompress before you even look at another essay.

Done playing catch up

This will never not be relatable. Although there's a comfort to staying home in your pyjamas and listening to your following lecture, you're so comfortable that you could binge your fave TV series or not get as much work done as you hoped. Even though using the hack to speed through the lectures at twice the speed is tempting, I'd argue that it's always better to go in person to maximise your understanding.

P's don't get degrees

My lecturer in my first year opened with Game of Thrones slides (GOT). Did I know what Goeffrey and Arya's intentions were? Nope. But I knew he was on the precipice of making a severe point followed by a GOT meme to make it seem less intimidating. He said that P's didn't get degrees. That statement is equivalent to the understanding that if you're passing your law units, then that's not good enough. Am I a law professor? No. So I won't claim that I have the same authority as a legal heavyweight in the profession. Still, I think the statement is toxic because behind it is the mentality that you're either exceptional or not. When the truth is people's lives are inherently complicated, not everyone is afforded the same privileges or overcomes the same hurdles. I hope you redefine what success looks like to you.