law and lawyers

hi i'm emma and today thanks to studentedge i'm here at the supreme court gardens tofind out exactly what it's like to be a lawyer. now we've all seen them on tv oncsi, law and order and i'm guessing you're probably thinking it's a prettyglamorous job bringing hardened criminals to justice saving the world one case at a time. buti'm going to guess that being a lawyer involveds a little more than what we seeon tv and today i'm catching up with a real-life lawyer matthew to find outwhat it's all about so come on, let's go meet him.

the image of the legal professioncreated by tv shows is certainly heroic and while element of this can be true the on-screen stories represent thesmallest tip of the iceberg in terms of the real work done by actual lawyers. emma, matthew. pleasure to meet you. i've got somequestions i'd love to ask you about being a lawyer. excellent well why don't we come overhere we'll have a chat about it so, emma what would you like to know?matthew i'm here today because i'd love

to know what it's really like being alawyer i'm guessing it's probably not quite the same as what wesee on tv. no it's not just the highlight reel all the intrigue. the majority of thework of a lawyer is actually spent in the office, sometimes long hours and it'sresearching, it's writing, it's meeting with clients and talking to other lawyersabout how to find the best way forward for a client, so it's not the everythingyou see on tv. not quite those intense court battles, huh?

look they come up from time to time butthey're definitely not the majority of what you see going on at all. what was it that made you decide thatyou wanted to be a lawyer? i decided i wanted to be a lawyer because i wantedto help people and law fundamentally is about helping people. alright matt it's now time for youto give us the edge, i've got three questions the first question is what qualities or characteristics makesomebody a good fit to be a lawyer? i think attention to detail, a passionfor the law and being a people person.

would you say that it's possible forsomebody to actually do some work experience with a lawyer before theydecide to become one? a lot of films will allow high schoolstudents to come in for a day or even a week to do work experience through thehigh school programs so they can experience and see what it's like in thelegal office and how it works. quite often you have to set that up through acontact or someone you know or you can go through the law society they can quiteoften put teachers and students in contact with a lawyer that can take awork experience person because it is really important to get to see what itwould be like before you go into it. the

other thing is there are so many differentpractices of law and specialities that each of them is quite different and justbecause you find that one doesn't work for you another one might be something thatyou're really interested in. and finally, if you could change one thingbut still end up where you are today what would you have done differently? i think the one thing i would have done differently is find out more about thejob and more about how to get into those roles in the legal profession earlier. i'm really happy with where i got to andthe work that i do, but

what i have found is i probably couldhave got there maybe quicker or without with bit less effort if i foundout more about it earlier. well thanks for your time today i really appreciate it. just one last thing um, i got thisparking ticket... well i'm a lawyer and city of perth is rightthere i'm sure we can sort it out it'll be fine. as you may have suspected being a lawyerinvolves far more than what you see on tv. the biggest part of your job is to makesure you provide your clients with

expert legal advice and assistancethrough what can often be stressful and traumatic situations. and remember whatmatt said to be a successful lawyer you've got to have excellentcommunication skills so, to get involved log on to studentedge.com.au andfollow the links