Liberty and Justice for All

As I recently mentioned, I spent rather a lot of time drafting and re-drafting a personal statement application to BPP for a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). When I was done, I sent it to a few friends that had read the first few drafts and one of them made the following comment:

"I'm especially glad you got rid of the bit about believing in justice"

This wasn't too encouraging, because I in fact did not "get rid of the bit" that said:

"I believe that the GDL at BPP would allow me to further develop my love of justice and argument and serve to empower me with the relevant knowledge and qualifications to embark upon a successful legal career."

Still, it didn't seem to bother them too much. And that was after I removed my 'joke' opening paragraph after a barrage of comments telling me that there is no place for humour in an application. I should've known. I should've known!

"A compulsive reading of every John Grisham novel I could get my hands on is not what made me want to study law. Nor was I convinced by a dozen irate males that perhaps I ought to consider a change of career path, and I certainly did not decide to do it because I thought I could handle the truth."

I saved myself some embarrassment which is always good.

On the topic of justice, I found today that the mother of a friend of mine has a particularly good quotation regarding law and justice:

"I also enjoyed her response to the question: What would your advice be to anyone wanting a career in law? She replied: "Remember that the law and justice are not a married couple. At best they are a one-night stand and part company in the morning." I certainly could not have put it better."

Have some Justice:

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mapgie.co.uk - blog

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Always on the move

As I walked into work I thought about which song I should append to my next blog entry. The first song I thought of was The Clash's I Fought The Law, but although I know that taking the Graduate Law Diploma will be hard work, I'm not sure it is quite on par with "breaking rocks in the hot sun". Furthermore, I don't want to "fight" the law, and if I do, I certainly don't want it to beat me.

What I am trying to say with this is that on Monday - having submitted an application on Friday afternoon - I had a phonecall from BPP Law School telling me that I had an offer and that an email would soon follow with instruction of how to accept and start paying them. The more cynical amonst us may simply shrug and point out to me that anyone who applies to do a GDL, provided they can pay up, will be accepted. I can honestly say that this attitude does not bother me. I know that my course, and how much I benefit from it, depends on me: on how hard I study, on what I do with it, etc. That doesn't mean that I didn't spend several weeks drafting my personal statement, speaking to friends who have taken a GDL/LLB/LPC/LLM, going to open days, reading different publications, and following a series of twitter feeds. I did.

Actually, the open day really sold me to the course. The Virtual Learning Environment, which enables students to access all the resources from a remote location, seems to have been the pivotal point that enabled me to believe that I could succeed through "distance learning". Although the stigma of "mail-order degree" seems to follow me around, regardless.

I went and got myself an external reader card at my nearest University library (where I happen to have studied for my two other degrees) and took out a few books on what seemed to be interesting topics that won't necessarily be covered in the GDL, but that I could take an interest in for casual reading. Apart from that: now I play the waiting game.

Because there wasn't a lot of music favourable to lawyers ("I studied law and... it was great fun!"), I have decided to leave you with what I was listening to when I came into work this morning.

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mapgie.co.uk

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