So... Why Law?

This is the first of a few (or many) Law-related blog posts I am writing.

As mentioned before, I am writing these posts in order to guide juniors through giving my own views on Law School admissions via my own experiences. All opinions are, of course, my own.

However, this article is addressed more towards those who know me well, and are interested to know why I decided to study Law in university. I will cover the reasons of choosing Law in this article.

When some of my friends and teachers heard that I was admitted to Law School, beneath their sincere congratulations and well wishes, I could sense that many were shocked. Understandably so. Many of them asked "Why Law?" I owe all of them an answer.

I graduated from NUSHS last year, which is a Math and Science school. My diploma was with Major w/ Honours in Mathematics, and Major in Physics and Chemistry. I did not take English Literature. My English modules, while decent, were never outstanding compared to my elite levelmates. Furthermore, my few leadership positions were in no way related to English, having led the Math Interest Group before. Also having taken some NUS modules in Calculus and Linear Algebra, many would've expected to do math in university.

And they were not wrong. In fact, I also wanted to pursue Math, having applied to UK universities such as Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, and Warwick. Partially, it might have been because I was not awarded any scholarship that I could not go overseas to pursue my Mathematical education (though that's another story for another day) that having remained in Singapore opened my options to more degree pathways.

My first introduction to Law, like many, would've been through TV Dramas. For me in particular, it was The Pupil and Code of Law on Channel 5 and The Family Court on Channel 8. Of course, this is quite a poor reason to want to study Law, but it was a good starting point. Thereafter, I started to pick up books related to Law, such as the late Subhas Anandan's books "The Best I Could" and "It's Easy To Cry". I was hooked to the legal processes that Mr Anandan went through during his many trials, as well as reading and analyzing his thoughts and intuitions. I was struck by his commitment that "even the worst criminal deserves the best defence". I also studied the other side of the Law by reading Glenn Knight's book "The Prosecutor". After being hooked on these 3 books, I knew that Law definitely was my calling.

I also chose to go into Law because I want to help people. I foresee myself to be practicing in the fields of Criminal and Family Law. Be it helping an innocent man be free of the gallows, or to send a convict behind bars to prevent him from causing further harm to society, or be it to help children caught in the middle of a messy divorce, I want to ensure that people benefit from my services. This benefit may not necessarily be a monetary one, but if I can make a change in their lives, it will be more worth than big bags of money. Helping change people's lives instead of earning money for people is also why I don't wish to specialize in Corporate Law, and instead go into Community Law. Community Law is the best way for me to help others, and society as a whole.

Perhaps it is good to explain why I did not want to continue with the Sciences. Sciences often have only a fixed answer, or at least a fixed pathway towards the answer. Therefore, one just has to practice and mug in order to do well for exams. The applicability of pure sciences in the real world too is quite limited. 

Law is different. Law tests you to really dig deep and understand the meaning behind the law, rather than just what the law is. The reason why studying Law is tough is because of the sheer amount of work needed to prepare for an exam, but during the exam you still need to think and analyse, instead of just regurgitating. I definitely would like a degree that allows me to express my views and passionately defend it, rather than just write a fixed answer. Also, Law is a degree that teaches one skills that goes beyond the legal industry, hence even if I don't become a lawyer in the future, I can still survive well in the workforce.

Above, I have stated 4 reasons why I chose to enter and study Law. I can't think of the other reasons now, but if I think of new ones, I will either edit the post or simply put a part 2 to this post. I hope that I managed to justify the reason why I decided to take the leap to Law.

But really, to my juniors, choose Law because you want to study Law. Even if there isn't a reason, rather just an unexplained passion for Law, go for it. Don't choose Law for the money, or just because you did well in English, or your parents want you to. It's not worth it that way. Law is indeed a calling, Law is not for everyone, certainly not for the faint hearted. And if reasons to study Law resonates with you, I welcome you on board.

Of course, I am speaking from the point of view of a successful applicant, not yet a law student.

Will Law be truly suited for me? I hope so, and I think so. But we'll only find out from August 2020 onwards.

P.S. If you read until this point and understood everything, you're a good reader. Maybe you should study law. XD