So, you find yourself in the precarious but exciting position of deciding what to do with your future, knowing that the path you choose will greatly affect the rest of your life.
In this article, I endeavour to point out the three top factors you need to take into consideration before choosing the legal profession.
Be patient
The first thing to consider is time. Whether you are an aspiring law student, a first-year article clerk or even a paralegal, you need to know that it is going to be a time-consuming path. Due to the vast nature of the law, it is generally accepted within the profession that it takes any legal practitioner at least 10 years to grasp the nature and application of the law. During your first few years in this field, you will spend numerous evenings and some weekends trying to get through your workload, which will interfere with your social and personal life. It is not all doom and gloom though, as soon as you have put in the hours it will become exponentially easier and you should eventually have a good work-life balance.
It's a financial and emotional investment
Secondly, you need to take into consideration the financial and emotional investment it requires to become successful in the legal profession. Studying law is inherently expensive due to the procedural requirements set out by the Legal Practice Council (LPC) in order to become part of the profession in South Africa. You will be required to hold a recognisable LLB degree, after which you will need to attend various law school programmes and write admission exams. Each step of this process requires a financial commitment, not to mention the time investment you will need to make to study and do research.
Money will be tight initially
Lastly and most importantly, is certainly the fact that in the initial few years of your legal journey, there will be little financial incentive. Due to the excessive number of people trying to enter the legal profession, there is a large oversupply of workers and therefore employers are at an advantage to pay less, knowing that they will be able to fill the position. However, the longer you stick it out and invest in yourself the higher your value becomes, and with that comes proper financial compensation.
Conclusion
You might think that the purpose of this article was to discourage you from pursuing your legal ambitions, however, that is not my intention. I simply set out the challenges you are going to face (the challenges I faced) so you may adjust your expectations if necessary.
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