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Law School is going to be Hard

13/3/2018

 
Vol 13 Issue 3

By Jackson Willows
I’m a first-year JD student and I’m 24 years old. I haven’t done much difficult stuff in my life - I studied Arts in my Undergrad. Safe to say, the JD will be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

I’ve got a bad habit of not being able to finish things. Just a few examples: I studied to be a personal trainer in 2012. I didn’t even finish my gap year. I started in the new Politics, Philosophy and Economics degree at ANU, but the economics was too hard so I dropped out. I tried managing a café but the work was hard and the hours were long, so I went back to study. Finally, I transferred into Arts after three semesters off and managed to make it through to graduation last year. Add to those my attempt at the
Hunt Bikes Snowy Mountains 1000 in 2016 and my thru-hike attempt of the Larapinta Trail last winter (both ended in injury) and you can see a trend. I’ve started many more things than I’ve finished. I’m hoping to change that.

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The JD should be the hardest thing I’ve ever done, otherwise my life won’t be a progression. Ideally, each new thing a person tries should be the hardest thing they’ve done up to that point. That doesn’t mean it must be objectively hard, just that it must be harder than the last thing they did. When I learned to ride a bike at 18, a 20 km ride was hard for me, but within six months I was riding a fixie up Kunanyi/Mount Wellington – probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Each ride along the way was a progression. I’m hoping the JD is going to be something of another mountain: physically and mentally difficult, quite steep, unrelenting and sufficiently rewarding at the end. I hope for your sake it has been or will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done.

So, why have I decided to tell you about it? There’s no stand-out reason. I want to be a staff writer with De Minimis and I need to write semi-regular pieces to do that. I’d like to make myself publicly accountable so that I take my own commitment seriously. It’ll be good to have some platform where I can straighten out my thoughts and practice my writing skills. Writing for De Minimis will also give me something to post on my barren blog.I can’t guarantee quality writing (this is awful and I’m not even procrastinating desperately), but I can guarantee 600-800 words twice a semester. God knows what I’ll end up writing about, but I am intending my articles to be a space where I can periodically check my own temperature - somewhere I can come back to, and remember why I’m doing what I’m doing.

I hope I’m not overstepping the mark in calling it a ‘column’. I don’t know ahead of time what it’s going to mean for me, but I’ll certainly know when I look back on it. Hopefully it won’t be a shallow account of my time as MLS. Maybe it will provide a relatable account of a JD student’s experience. Perhaps this is a lofty goal.Maybe you’ll find some value along the way.

This has all been a diversion. I’m supposed to tell you why I’m doing the JD. That’s tough. My reasons at the outset, as is the case for a lot of people, are a loosely associated clump that can’t be articulated precisely. I’d like a job when I graduate, to know more about how the country runs, to be progressing over the next three years, to be stimulated - and I didn’t want to do the GAMSAT. So here I am. It’s not very convincing, but at least it’s honest.

I’d say the JD, much like my writing this column and any other major decision you’ll make in life, will make a lot more sense retrospectively. Things only truly take their shape when we have had time to grapple with them and understand their greater significance in our lives. I’d like to assure those folks who might not be sure of why they’re here. There’s no shame in that and you’re not alone. I’m in the same boat, and in my outstretched hand is an oar.

​See more:
  • Need a break?
More from this issue:
  • A Musical black box
  • A tale of two constitutions
  • Later law students network
  • The law makes strange bedfellows
Tim S
14/3/2018 07:49:44 pm

You're right that it's going to be challenging, Jackson. I think this will be an interesting piece for you to reflect back on down the track!

Bad at maths
14/3/2018 08:27:35 pm

Is this article more presumptuous than self-indulgent, or more self-indulgent than presumptuous?

OMG YES BAD AT MATHS!
14/3/2018 08:47:07 pm

what is the point of the article?! so what you're a first year male with a sense of entitlement?... join the looooong line.
I've started to develop a feeling that maybe this article was supposed to be satire? Let's hope so

Bazza
14/3/2018 11:25:20 pm

Why is his gender relevant?

OMG YES BAD AT MATHS!
14/3/2018 08:50:01 pm

One more thing- you didn't need to let us know that you've never done anything difficult in your life- the article spelled that out pretty clearly

You wanted accountability
14/3/2018 09:42:53 pm

I'm enjoying the comments, even though I know you were being vulnerable. Even if that's gratuitous and, as Omg says, self-serving. The most infuriating thing though is that you have no idea what difficult is, and you'd realise that if you had any self awareness. You're like that kid from undergrad who said life was SO HARD because your parents didn't pay your rego this year. Save yourself a lot of time and money and think about why you wanted to do law. Is it to practice law? Didn't think so.

Ease Up
14/3/2018 09:58:50 pm

God you people are mean ^^ give the guy a break. He's trying to be open and express doubts and vulnerability. How presumptuous of you to assume you know that he hasn't experienced hardship of difficulty.

new year, kinda new me
14/3/2018 11:28:05 pm

Your experiences don't quite reflect mine but I too ended up in the JD as a 'well I've got nothing else on for the next three years so let's just run with it' scenario.

And I do have to say that the JD course itself is, so far, not the hardest thing that I've done. However, all the 'not learning' that I did in the first year of my JD, which mirrored very closely all of the 'not learning' that I did in my first year of undergrad, made me realise a lot about myself.

I wish you the best of whatever you need the best of. As somebody who has been regularly dropping anonymous comments on DeMin articles, I admire your courage in putting your voice out there.

no need to wallow
14/3/2018 11:48:45 pm

For all those in the comments hating, maybe you should stop talking about entitlement when we are all entitled enough to be at university. Keep your negativity where you belong- in the dark corner hiding behind fake names whilst Jackson is standing strong and speaking the truth. It was a great read Jackson, look forward to reading the next.

P.S ill post my real name if you do "OMG yes bad at maths" ;)

Constructive Crit
15/3/2018 09:27:56 am

Dear author,

Thank you for your honesty and candour. Congratulations on your new role with this publication.

As you will be a regular contributor to this highly esteemed publication, you may want to re-evaluate your choice of subject-matter. Popular topics include; contentious issues. Unfortunately, I believe your choice for this week is without any contention.

Hannah Arendt once said that the ‘heart is a dark place’, or something to the equivalent. Your heart is indeed a dark place, not because it is weighed down by the memory of historical atrocities, or spurned by contemporary assaults or interventions. It is dark for simple reason that the light switch remains off.

Turn it on by looking at the world, and not yourself.

cool comment
15/3/2018 10:49:47 am

cool comment

NPJ
15/3/2018 12:27:42 pm

I don't really wanna be the guy that comments on comments, but included at the bottom of a print edition is a line to the effect of, "if you don't like the articles, write your own"

Deminimis is the voice, nay the pulse, of the law school, it is constitutionally bound to publish anything and everything that comes into its inbox. Those denigrating the quality of this work, be reminded that the author is essentially stating truisms- is law school not hard? It's made a lot harder when you have to deal with some shit by anonymous comments.

Commenters, it takes about 45 mins for me to pump out an article, there are 29 hours left til the weekly deadline. I expect to hear of a Gmail malfunction due to too many submissions.

HERE'S HOPING
19/3/2018 11:54:57 am

Studying law without wanting to be a lawyer is an utterly moronic thing to do ...

With that said, here's hoping you'll kick arse Jackson, good luck you stupid bastard! Enjoy the stream of anonymous blowhards berating you for being white and above the poverty line.


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  • Home
  • ABOUT US
  • Podcast
  • Your Learned Friend
  • Anonymous Feedback
  • Art
  • Get published!
  • Constitution
  • Archive
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2017 >
      • Semester 2 (Volume 12) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (election issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
    • 2016 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 9) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 10) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (Election Issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
        • Issue 13 (test)
    • 2015 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 7) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
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