2. The life of a lawyer

• Active reading 


  As a law student and future lawyer, you will have to read a lot. Active reading is an important skill– thinking about what you are reading as you are doing it. • Reading actively, you skim through the material until you reach an important point– which you can then read in detail

  • Active reading helps you: cut down reading time, remember relevant information, think critically about the topics, and create better revision notes.
• Active reading


  Reading with purpose and using the SQ3R technique
• SQ3R technique


  1. Survey (or skim)

  2. Question

  3. Read

  4. Recall

  5. Review
• Survey (or skim)

  • Find out what it is about and if it is relevant
• Question


  • Make a list of questions
• Read


  • Read the relevant parts, highlight and underline (NOT WITH LIBRARY BOOKS)
• Recall


  • Try to see if you can recall/remember what you read
• Review


  • Review your notes to make sure it makes sense
• Read with purpose - Know what you are looking for! Make a list of key questions!
• Extra reading hints!


  • Do not do too many readings at once
  • Remember you do not have to read everything in detail
  • Use different colored pens and highlighters to mark key passages
  • List down words that you do not know and use a dictionary to define them later
  • Keep yourself organized– keep all your references in one place (a document or notebook– use ZOTERO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG7Uq_JFDzE
  • Reference as you go!
• Career options for a law degree

  • lawyer
  • academic
  • policy adviser
  • advocate
  • politician
  • diplomat
  • judge
  • paralegal
  • law librarian
• Career options continued...


  LLB Graduate

  • Private sector - Private practice OR In-house counsel
  • Public sector - Government OR Judiciary OR Legal aid
  • Community - Community legal center
• The reality of a lawyer job

  • help people
  • give CLEAR advice about COMPLICATED problems
  • are negotiators and advocates
  • read and write A LOT
• Professionalism


  The competence or skill expected of a profession– the conduct, aims, and qualities that characterize or mark a profession or professional person
• Professional identity


  How you see yourself as a member of the legal profession and the beliefs, values, expectations, motives, and behaviors that arise from how you perceive yourself in your professional role
• Duties of lawyers


  • Uphold the rule of law and administration of justice
  • Conduct yourself in an ethical manner
  • Cannot mislead the Court
  • Cannot put forward misleading evidence
  • Refrain from matters where you have a conflict of interest
  • Remember lawyer-client confidentiality
  • Represent your client professionally and competently
  • Handle your client's money properly
• Professionalism in the Pacific


  The legal profession is different from that in Australia and New Zealand
• Legal profession in the Pacific

  • Specific pieces of legislation and different codes govern the conduct of lawyers
  • Failure to abide by the law and rules has serious repercussions for your career as a legal practitioner
  • You can be suspended or removed from the bar or even sued by your clients, exacerbated by the small size of the Pacific islands
• Professionalism


  Having a positive professional identity is important, developing one starts in law school
• Aspects of professionalism in law school

  • Academic integrity - Choosing NOT to plagiarize, cheat, or collude
• "To plagiarise in law school is to demonstrate a lack of constant vigilance in abiding by the ethical dictates of one's professional community."
• Justice must not only be done but be seen to be believed! – JB Morton Always consider how the public perceives the legal profession and what harm might be done to that perception if you engage in a certain behavior.