Shattered Dreams

“No one can shatter your dreams unless you let them.” -Maeve Greyson

Now that I’m all back and settled into the semester that means more blog posts! This year I hope to create more blogposts about my life, random challenges etc! The tone of my blog thus far has been a bit serious but throughout my other posts I hope that you’ll be able to see a little bit more of my quirkiness. Unfortunately, today is not one of those days where I post a fun blog lol.

If you’re unaware, I’m studying law. This past week I attended a Careers Fair on campus. I expected to be so motivated because there were going to be lots of employers from the legal sector coming to the University to talk about recruitment. However, to my dismay I left the Fair feeling so discouraged and demotivated! Let me give you the background story so that you can understand the context of my story.

So basically, in the UK there are 2 types of lawyers; Solicitors who deal with research and in house deals, then there are Barristers who appear in court on behalf of their clients. This distinction isn’t clearly made in The Bahamas where I’m from but most lawyers in The Bahamas tend to go the Barrister route. I love public speaking and the thrill of being in court so obviously I’m interested in being a Barrister (I should mention here that some solicitors now have the opportunity to appear in court) but I don’t think the solicitor route is for me but in The Bahamas, lawyers tend to do both the research and appear in court. I’ve been questioning myself a lot lately, especially because it’s almost time for me to start applying for Law School (I know some of you are like, aren’t you already in law school?!). After completing the LLB, Solicitors and Barristers take a professional course to qualify in order to practice. Solicitors take the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and then try to secure a Training Contract and Barristers take the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) and try to secure pupillage then tenancy.

Now that some context has been shed on the 2 distinctions between lawyers let’s go back to 2 days ago at the Careers Fair. My friend and I were so excited to go to the Career Fair and find out more information about potential job opportunities, vacation schemes and work experience. When I got to the Law section, interestingly enough there were no Barrister Chambers there(I would’ve known this if I had checked out the Fair last year). I spoke to someone at one of the University booths who was advertising one of their courses and I told him that I wanted to become a Barrister and he said “Look around, do you see any Chambers here today? No because they don’t need workers. The competition is stiff.” This was a complete turn off for me and everything else he said went through one ear and came out through the next. I went to another University booth and spoke to one of the recruiters who offers the BPTC and I told him what the other man had said about becoming a Barrister and to my disappointment, he said that he always tells his students to be realistic about doing the BPTC because it is very expensive and it is very hard to make it at the Bar. Then I spoke to one of the representatives from the Bar Council in reference to scholarships because embarking on postgraduate law studies is expensive! He told me that I would have to stay and work in the UK if I was awarded a scholarship from one of the Inns of Court (when someone is enrolled on the BPTC in the UK they also have to become a member of 1 of the 4 Inns) and staying in the UK was never a part of my plan.

Anyway, enough ranting…in summary, since this Careers Fair my bright hope and expectation for the future has turned into pure fear and anxiety. What if things don’t work out? What if they were right? What if I don’t make it at the Bar?

In all honesty, sometimes I let negativity get in my head but at the end of the day, I use it to fuel me. Just because you said I can’t do something I will do everything in my power to prove you wrong. The message that I want to get across in this blog post is that we shouldn’t let anyone stop us from achieving our dreams. I hear all the time “Why do you want to be a lawyer? Don’t you think we have enough lawyers already?” This may be true but there aren’t a lot of Jemmas in the world and there won’t be any lawyer quite like Jemma.

If you ever feel discouraged about your career path because of negativity exerted from other people remember that there’s no one in this world quite like you who can do what you can do. For extra motivation check out Elevate Yourself Prove the naysayers wrong and continue to strive for success. Ignore the noise in the market and remember no one can shatter your dreams unless you let them!