6
votes
Studying law
In three months I will probably start studying law. It's the second time starting university for me, since I left the university where I studied IT about 5 months ago because of depression and I guess I didn't really like programming that much.
My question is: Say I finished the uni and got a law degree. What are the jobs I could do and what do I really have to do there? I have a slight idea from the movies, but I don't really know any people in person to ask this from.
I don't know a thing about studying or practicing law in Estonia, but you should listen to this deep dive into what law school is like in the US.
Depends on what you’re interested in – traditional legal jobs or something else.
In my case, I thought I’ll end up an attorney or, more likely, judge. Then I felt that that mediation and arbitration are the way to go. In between I did privacy and IT law (esp. FOSS licensing) as a hobby and worked for an NGO for a bit. And finally I got lucky and ended up as an in-house lawyer in an IT company specialising in FOSS.
I would say one thing that’s good with legal studies is that it teaches you enough so you can understand the laws behind any specific trade you later want to specialise in either from the legal side or a completely different angle.
The fact that you studied something else – and even so different to law as IT is – will in the long run give you an added perspective that can only benefit you either as a lawyer or whatever else you turn out to be.
(it’s late and I’ve just had surstromming and beer, so I’m off to bed …happy to come back to this thread tomorrow)
I believe traditional legal jobs (regular 'ol attorney or lawyer for an established firm) are quite hard to come by. Not impossible by any means, but may require some effort and low wages while you establish yourself. I could also be wrong, but those are the sentiments I've heard.
You might consider focusing in on the business aspects of law and trying to land a nice corporate job as a law specialist there focusing on contracts and such. Could be a nice idea if that's something you want.