Choosing to become a lawyer is a pretty big decision and not one you can make lightly. With six years of training as a minimum and so much more to learn coming out of those six years, you have to really want it, to make it.
I was in year nine of secondary school when I first told my mother I wanted to become a lawyer. I had been through my phase as a child of wanting to become an actress. That had been and gone and I had moved on to my young teen phase of wanting to become a forensic photographer… before I realised I’m far too sensitive for that career choice and it isn’t all NCIS!
With a desire to make a difference in the world and have a career that meant something to me as opposed to just paying the bills, law kept coming back to me again and again as an obvious passion I had for making an impact.
When it came down to applying for university when I was in college, it was law that I still wanted to pursue, four years on. However, as an impressionable teen who didn’t really know who she was on the inside, I let my tutor convince me that I wasn’t smart enough to make it in the legal profession and that I should apply to study a degree “better suited to my creative personality.”
So, believing that I wouldn’t make it in the career I wished for, I got accepted to all of my university choices to study Event Management. To make a long story short and not go off topic on my journey to choosing law… I hated it, dropped out and moved to Australia instead.
I had always been creative in my personal outlets from the get go, I loved dance and sports, I was part of the school council for five years and I organised our school prom. Through enjoyment and curiosity, I understood marketing and how to put on events and the way in which consumers connect with campaigns and what makes them buy into products etc, so I didn’t find my degree challenging or something that would maintain my interest for the rest of my working career.
I took up a personal training course alongside my degree and it just so happened that I passed it at the same time I decided to leave university. I moved to Australia as a newly qualified personal trainer and naturally decided to give this path a try. I thrived in the fitness industry and loved what I could do for others and the variety that the job gave me on a day to day basis. I progressed from a personal trainer to an assistant gym manager and a F45 instructor and covered all areas.
Whilst pursuing a career in the fitness industry in Australia, I completed an online paralegal course covering the English legal system, conveyancing, matrimonial law, civil and criminal litigation through the Online Training College in London. I have always been the type of person who needs multiple projects/ hobbies going on in the background in order to stay motivated and inspired by constant learning. Completing this course reminded me of why I fell in love with the law in the first place and confirmed that I needed to move away from the place that I loved to be able to do the thing that I loved.
This decision took me months and was definitely one of the hardest I have ever had to make. I applied to return to university in late 2018 and returned to the UK in late August 2019 to start my Law LLB course at Brighton University in September.
Since then I have completed my first semester covering tort, public law, criminology and ethics, attended a careers fair, filmed for Law Careers for the day, attended a legal conference, pitched a business investment proposal to the partner of TLT and three corporate lawyers, attended a U-Law workshop, been accepted to attend the Aspiring Solicitors conference in 2020 and sat and passed the Watson Glaser test.
This is only the very beginning of my legal journey and I cannot wait for what is yet to come. The aim of this website is to share my journey from the very beginning and all the way through to becoming a lawyer. For people like myself currently studying, prospective employers, prospective law students still deciding what path to take and those looking to make a career change.
I hope you find my journey helpful and I can’t wait to share more as time progresses.
