The Outback Expat

I’m a Lawyer Now

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I qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales in February 2010 and when I arrived in Darwin I knew I would need to do a bit more studying to qualify as a Solicitor in the Northern Territory.

You may recall it turned out that I had to do a LOT more studying to qualify and I began those studies with Charles Darwin University in March 2015 and finished them in November 2016.

Two years down and six subjects later, I then had the mad dash to send documents to New South Wales so they could give me the approval I needed within a 3 or so day turnaround so I could submit the documents in time to qualify in December 2016.

The mad dash worked out and I got the news that I would be admitted as a Solicitor in December 2016.

The ceremony in Darwin for admissions is really lovely. You have to have your admission “moved” by a Solicitor already admitted as a Lawyer. The people being admitted then line up in order of the Solicitor moving their admission’s seniority. We then all stood up one by one whilst the Solicitor essentially presented us to the Judges of the Supreme Court which involved telling them our history, hobbies and interests before the Law Society confirmed they did not object to our admission.

I asked the Solicitor I worked for to move my admission and she gave a lovely speech about my personal history, family, the Aussies and friends all of whom provided me with so much support during the qualification process.

After everyone had been presented to the Court, we had to swear an oath about our duties as a Solicitor before we signed the Roll of Solicitors.

My family were unable to travel at the short notice we had because we didn’t know I would definitely be admitted as a Solicitor until a week or so before because the documents have to be approved by a Committee. My admission included lovely words about my family which I really appreciated.

The Aussie came along to my admission as did some of our friends which was lovely and we went out for brunch/lunch afterwards, enjoyed some champagne (best tasting champagne I have had in a while) and I bought a beautiful peace of art which will always remind me of that day.

Qualifying was a huge relief, I really didn’t enjoy the studying this time round but it has enabled me to find a job in Brisbane so we could relocate as we had been planning which I am grateful for. It’s all part of the journey after all.

Life Right Now

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Wow I just looked and saw that I haven’t posted on here for over two months. It’s been a hectic time with my uni courses, working full time and getting out and about a bit as much as possible. I took my last exam for the first semester this week and so am now enjoying some holiday time from work for a few days and from studying for the next month or so so life right now is a bit calmer.

So far I have mainly been taking full advantage of our new subscription to Netflix! I resisted subscribing whilst I was studying as I knew I wouldn’t have time to really enjoy watching the shows on there and didn’t want to get distracted from studying because of having it. I have started watching a few different series (Nashville, Pretty Little Liars & Suits) and am really impressed by the services and variety of shows although the shows available are not as good as in other countries still – get it together Netflix!

Studying was a bit tough to be honest, especially in the run up to the exams when I was starting to feel pretty tired between working and studying. I’m lucky because I’m an “external” student even though I live in Darwin where the university is located so I can watch the lectures in my own time and attend the seminars online so don’t have to race down to the campus straight from work.

I generally spent the whole of one of the days on the weekend from around 9am – 5pm watching lectures and preparing for the seminars the following week this intensified when it came to assignment time. The seminars are up to 1.5 hours and I quickly discovered I needed to go to the earlier seminars as otherwise it wouldn’t finish until after 8.30pm which meant that I was not really as focused as I needed to be because of being tired so it wouldn’t be very helpful for me to learn.

I was thinking of doubling my study load next semester to four subjects but I realised this wouldn’t be sustainable for me because I am still learning lots in my job because I am working in a completely different area of law and it would be pretty tiring to study more than I already am whilst working full time and trying to enjoy some of the non study things I enjoy doing.

This does mean that it will drag out the time until I qualify because the remaining subjects I need to study are only available in the second semester of each year and I was determined to qualify as soon as possible but I’ve kind of realised it doesn’t matter if it takes a bit longer as long as I qualify as I am able to do legal work in my job which I love doing.

So for now I am going to enjoy some time off and especially enjoy all of the dry season things that are on at the moment on the weekends like markets, concerts, festivals and generally being outdoors with low humidity before semester 2!

relaxed-cat_o_2224485

Who Knew I was Miscellaneous

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Since receiving my offer of a place at University before Christmas I have been trying to get enrolled online.

My main problem is that I had to apply to study a law degree (never ever again!!!) even though I only have to study six subjects to qualify. Establishing I had to follow that route took some time but we got there and I was offered my place confirming the offer was conditional on my completing the required subjects.

Then came the paying the fees and accepting my place parts which were complicated because everything is geared up for me studying a full year of subjects so I was being told that I had to pay a deposit equivalent to the total of all of my fees to qualify o accept the place which is just not possible financially at the moment so I couldn’t accept the place online without paying that deposit. It was resolved by filling in the paperwork by hand and I received my welcome, please enroll online email. Queue further emails back and forth.

During this enrollment process I have discovered that I am officially miscellaneous, student wise. The reasons for this is varied and extensive:

• I am an “international” student;
• I only want to study 6 subjects but had to apply to study a whole Law Degree;
• My visa status of being on a bridging visa doesn’t fit any of the categories in the “official Statistics” of things the Australian Government apparently HAS to know about all students whilst enrolling and I accidentally ticked the wrong box as none of them fit my situation;
• I want to study online as an external student and apparently International students can’t do this but I have been offered a place to study online;
• I haven’t studied the prerequisites for the subjects I need to study (ummmm I don’t think I need to study Introduction to Law really? Apparently not); and
• I only want to enroll for 2 subjects when the minimum to enroll online is 4.

As a result I was sent an enrollment form for “miscellaneous students” to fill in by hand again and even though it’s been completed I’m still not enrolled.
Who Knew I was Miscellaneous
I am probably driving the International Department crazy because every time they email me it’s never a straightforward email back but about 5 or 6 emails back and forth until that problem is sorted and if I call I am told to email!

Let’s hope its sorted soon as I am supposed to commence studying on 02 March! Seriously what have I let myself in for?

Study Nerves

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As you know I was recently offered a place to study the six subjects I need to qualify as a lawyer in Australia, yay! I am very relieved to have that worry of my mind and I am getting things ready so that I can start studying at the start of March.

Whilst I am relieved I am also very anxious about actually doing this studying stuff. I haven’t studied for an exam since I finished my post-graduate course in 2004 and I am sure I have forgotten how to sit down, study and learn things in a learning environment.

I have learnt heaps in the 18 months I have been in Darwin. In my first job I worked as a PA/Secretary as I found it really difficult to find a job doing legal work (thank you for giving me that chance guys), and had to learn those skills as well as what was required for completely new areas of law that I had never worked in and had only in some cases, briefly studied at university. I then became a Law Clerk and had to learn two new areas of law at the same time and it’s been one heck of a steep learning curve for me already but still I am nervous about being able to study, work full-time, blog (!) and try to have a bit of a life at the same time.

I know I have studied a degree and post-graduate course so I can do it but I wonder, can I do it now? Learning a subject for an essay or exam is quite different to applying the law to a scenario for work so I feel like I’m going to have to re-learn those learning tools again.

I can study up to 4 subjects at a time as a “part-time” student and I know I could never manage four at a time so one of the debates is whether I can manage 2 subjects and working or whether I should just try one for now. The only problem is I could probably get 6 subjects done in a year and a semester meaning I could qualify around July 2016 if I studied 2 at a time but if I break it down it’s going to be more like 2 years of studying and qualifying late 2016 or early 2017 and I really want to qualify in 2016.

Decisions, decisions! Of course one good thing from studying is that I won’t have time to spend money so may be able to save a bit this year! Also 2014 flew by so hopefully the studying will also fly by and before I know it I will be admitted as a solicitor in Australia 🙂

Have you ever been in this kind of situation before? How did you manage to fit in studying with the rest of your life? Any revision or studying tips?

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