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AREA OF INTEREST.....ANYONE?

 

Before commencing with this blog post, again I REPEAT:

This post is based on the sample crowd of the law school I study in. Situations may differ according to where the person reading this note comes from.

Facts:

4th year of law school having studied 42 varied subjects with litigation and corporate internship experience, moot court achievements, paper presentations, articles and all that is required to make a glossy CV (Curriculum Vitae).

Place:

A National Law University still trying to make its mark with no strong alumni base.

Issue in Question:

Asked to fill a recruitment registration form in order to register for campus recruitment.

Moot Point:

Column which states, “Please specify your area of interest in order of preference”

A recent conversation that I had with a classmate made both of us land up in utter confusion with regard to what to fill in the area of interest section. The discussion began with putting in Corporate Law to covering all procedural laws to arbitration to Public International Law. We reached a deadlock and decided that we should ask the faculty as to what could potentially be the area of interest we could put in to which a but obvious reply was that ‘how can we tell you your area of interest, you should know best what your suited for and what you like’. A logical counter to that very argument was that, ‘Madam, unless we practice in something for a long time or we have experienced varied areas, how would we know what to fill in here.’

This backdrop again would give you a logical answer that internships are undertaken for this very purpose, so that a person can figure out his/her area of interest. I do agree with this view and so would any other logical and prudent man since it would all fit in like a math equation which looks something like this:

Area of Interest= Internship Experience+ Personal Choice+ Place of Practice+ Available Openings

That’s that then, everything seems to have fallen right into place, then why did the confusion arise in the first place? Let’s get back to question that we did actually want to ask the faculty. The points to be highlighted in the question are plain and simple:

-          Time

-          Experience

How much time and experience do internships normally last, one or two months in case of a summer or winter break where work which ranges from research to observing proceedings in court to how exactly arguments take place and preparing briefs with research backup for senior counsels. This is generally what most people would experience barring exceptions of course. How exactly can a candidate of law decide which area he/she fancies within this short time span?

Fine, for the time being, let’s keep aside the internship aspect for now, let us only consider the subjects a student studies at law school. There are certain subjects he/she fancies and which he enjoys studying. But, does that necessarily mean that these subjects graduate to the level of being called as an area of interest which he/she would want to specialize in.

Again, let’s consider the so called sterner arguments which may arise. Firstly, no one can spoon feed you while at law school and you are to decide what is best for you, Secondly, if you can’t decide what is best for you, no one else can. Thirdly, ask people in the field, speak to people and ‘feel’ (yes, I have heard this many times but never understood how wide its ambit can be) your way around.

Agreed that no one can spoon feed a law student and he/she should best know what he/she is fit for and also that he/she should ‘feel’ his/her way around in the profession. But, where is the time for all this? Does anyone realize that even before a law student realises it, he has to sit for a recruitment interview where in most cases, areas of interest are adjusted according to the available openings and the needs of the firm or counsel in question. Forget spoon feeding and ‘feeling’ your way around, the poor guy would be revising his basics of corporate or securities law despite having a small part of him wondering that he may be best suited for IPR.

To conclude, the point remains that law is a profession where maturity is late and it is this late maturity that makes it such a beautiful profession. Owing to the current market trends and the changing needs of law students, situations have changed and people often do get mismatched into a particular area where they are in a doubt or a constant question mark which is, ‘What if, what if I had given myself more time to think this through.’ The final argument that I can think of would be that five years is more than sufficient time for anyone to decide where he/she wants to be. Again, does this law student have time to actually sit and think as to where he/she wants to be with hectic submission schedules and internship acceptance/rejection anticipation mails?

As a distinguished Supreme Court Judge had told my friend, a long time ago, ‘Son, unless you actually get into the profession and see a variety of matters coming up, you won’t be able to assess where exactly your area of interest lies.’

 

 

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