Law right for me?? I need help!!

backwards:)

Hi there i need advice from anybody who is studying a BA in law.
When i left school i tried to follow a path of study in science but after a battle of three years and crap grades i left it. The problem was i'm awful at maths and logic. I have taken a year to think about what i want to do. When i think of Law, i think there is a lot of study involved. But that is no problem foir me, i am a bookworm. However, financially this is my last chance at another go of a degree and when i looked at some free law notes online the other day it scared the crap out of me. Every sentence looked like it had to be broken down to ordinary english before i could attempt to understand it. On broaching this worry with my family they said that you will learn ways of reading that and as your vocab grows the technical speak will become easier. I want anybody doing law to tell me if it's just a case of a lot of reading and learning off by heart or do people have a problem in having to translate all the notes so they can understand it?
Any advice would be really appreciated and if someone could send me an email with a sample of their notes id be forever indebted!!

Paige Turner

Hi,

I studied the BA (Hon's) in Legal Studies in WIT, a couple of years ago.
As to whether I would recommend WIT as the place to study this course is another question.

To answer your question, there is no real need to be worried about the legal termanology, that will all come with time. By the time you will finish your final year, you may even find you are understanding bits of Latin (depending on your lecturer).

The one thing I would recommend, is to invest in a good Law dictonary. It will become a lifesaver, when reading through lenghty texts.

The first year, everybody is in the same boat, and subjects such as Irish Legal Systems, is really good for learning the basics.

Depending on the year, and subjects, the work load will vary.
Semester 1 of 1st year, is really an introduction, and I found most of the lecturers, were willing to help you, and welcomed questions (no matter how silly they seem when you look back now.)

2nd year you are encouraged to be a lot more independent. Reading and research takes a bigger role than 1st year. The required reading, no matter how much you just want to sit down and zone out at the end of the day, is definatley recommended. It will make things so much easier come exam time. I found making my own summary and notes at the end of each chapter, really helped with revision.

3rd year, really is a do it yourself year. There a many more tutorials, and Independant study assignments. Required reading, and if you want to do well, extra reading is a must.

With the Hon's degree at least, learning off the required text and notes, will prob get you by, but won't get the high marks. To do this, lecturers in grading will look to see your own insight and input. Common questions on exam papers are to give you a scenario, and then ask you to Advice.
Here you will be required to state the law, how the law applies to this case, include case law, and advise.
You won't really find many, tell me all you know, type questions.

Learning case law is also a must.

Hope this helps. Law really is a fascinating subject, and while Legal jobs in Ireland at the moment are few and far between, there are so many other area's you can branch into. You may even find what you wanted to do when starting the course will have changed by the time you finish.

Paige Turner

Oh just one other thing that I forgot to mention that might be of use:

If you were studying on a degree course for science and you have your first year completed, with all the subjects passed, you may be eligable for an Exit Award.

This will basically give you a higher certificate in Science.

Here is the info on it, it will tell you if your course is eligible:

http://www.wit.ie/StudentLifeServices/Policies/WIT_Academic_Regulations_2010.pdf

That way, least you will have something to show for the time that you did put into science.

It's not something that is well know about, but it is available (as I have someone close to me who received one), and it is very easy to apply for.

You may have to wait for the next lot of conferring awards to receive it though.

backwards:)

Thanks very much Paige,
I really appreciate your advice, and the exit award i never knew about! And i was only giving out recently about the fact i have nothing to show for those efforts!!Looks like i could apply for that, going to look into it now!Did you not like WIT as a college? Maybe i picked that up wrong?
Waterford is closest to me and the points for the course last year are about 75-80 less than what i got in my LC, so i thought that might give my application an advantage. But any inside info on the place would be great?
It was like when i went to Maynooth,the head of science, after me expressing a difficulty with maths, and the fact that i only have pass maths from the leaving cert, told me not to worry and that it was simple. Integral calculus in college, where even honours people found it a challenge wasn't easy, and i think some colleges just try to get numbers in and their advice lacks sometimes.

Lisac220

does anyone know what the hours are like for this course ?

Fea.

I regret now I didn't apply for law last year. Sounds so interesting.