Valid reasons why you should never ever study Law, by a final year Law student

I can’t advise against it enough

8 years ago

Guides

They say smoking is the most expensive way of killing yourself, however I would argue studying Law is probably the costliest and most depressing way of slowly losing the will to live.

So what exactly makes a law degree so bad?

It’s boring

Get real here, are you genuinely interested in lease renewals? Do EU Directives truly tickle your fancy? If they do, then you probably need to see a doctor. There’s no point lying; it’s obvious why you’re doing law – it’s all about the money. The topic itself is as dull as watching paint dry. The £35k salary isn’t worth it when you’re being bored stiff daily.

Awful

There’s not even much money in law anyway

The money attracts you more doesn’t it? Well, shock horror – there’s not even that much money in law anymore. I’ve been told countless time by weary-eyed barristers “Law is a dying area – why are you doing it?” Indeed, you’re probably spending more money trying to get into the profession then you’ll get out of it.

Being a law student is expensive

You can easily blow £100 on books and you’ll only have bought three. Of course, you don’t have to buy the books but you’ll always end up fruitlessly scouring the library for the three copies of Land Law that everyone is simply dying to get their hands on.

Just why?

There’s a lot of pretentiousness

Law has the effect of making everyone that studies it that little bit more pretentious than they were before they came to uni. We’ll talk to our mates at home about Brexit and Consumer Acts until it’s coming out of their ears and we’re told to fuck off. Don’t worry, we’ll be taken down a peg or two when we realise that no employers are interested in our 2:1.

It’s depressing

You’re constantly told how hard and competitive it is to make it in this area, even getting a job as a paralegal. It’s enough to put anyone off.

Smiling through the pain

Little to no graduate jobs after uni

If you want to be a solicitor or barrister – good luck. You are going to need very deep pockets and a lifelong prescription of Valium. If you don’t – ha, you’re screwed. There aren’t many law graduate jobs and if there are, they’re snapped up quicker than you can say Denning. 95 per cent of the law graduate jobs on Target Jobs and Prospects are for vacation schemes and training contracts.

Most people are unfriendly

There are lots of nice friendly people that do law, but most people in the tutorials end up giving you daggers. We all eyed each other up competitively from day one so I suppose it was inevitable. See that girl over there? She might be the one that takes your Ashfords Training Contract. To add to this, most people pretend to be cleverer than they are which makes you feel worse.

Exclusivity/expensive profession

Law is well known for being a very exclusive profession, reserved almost entirely for the upper echelons of our society. With courses that cost £19k a year (and that’s not even including assessment fees and learning resources), you’d better have extremely generous rich parents and be prepared to sell a kidney if you want a slice of the action.