Trying to Identify My Area of Interest as a 1L
Within the general 1L curriculum in Ontario, there is little room for individualization. Each law school has a slew of mandatory courses that 1Ls are required to take, which cover very broad practice areas. This is a useful approach in many ways, as it ensures that first-year students are provided with a strong foundational understanding of broader legal topics, before narrowing down their area of interest through upper-level courses in later years.
However, one issue with this curriculum is that it does not leave much room for 1Ls to identify a particular area of interest. The courses that 1Ls do take are very broad, and many areas of law are often not represented within the first-year curriculum. As someone who frequently plans ahead, I have been tasked with the challenge of trying to identify the areas of law that I am interested in within this broad and sweeping curriculum. So far, I have identified a few strategies which take place both inside and outside the classroom to help me learn about as many areas of law as possible, so that I can work on identifying my area(s) of interest.
Exploring Perspective Options:
As a student at Osgoode Hall, I am fortunate to get the chance to take an elective course in my first year. The Perspective Option for the first year elective requirement are seminars offered that go beyond doctrinal analysis to focus on critical contextualized perspectives of law. These seminars introduce students to central themes in one of the special disciplinary approaches to law, such as legal sociology, criminology, or law and economics. Some of the Perspective Options offered in the 2020–2021 school year included “Legal Values: Access to Justice”, “Tax as Instrument of Social and Economic Policy”, “UN Governance & State Building”, and “Law, Ethics, and Social Media”. Reading about the different Perspective Options has exposed me to fields of law that I otherwise wouldn’t have known, including technology law, tax law, and privacy law. Getting to take a Perspective Option in my first year will help me learn about a new field of law in a more practical manner, allowing me to be exposed to a possible area of interest.
Extracurriculars:
Law schools in Ontario are notable for their wide range and breadth of extracurriculars. Getting involved in extracurriculars is a great way to get both hands-on and theoretical experience in a variety of fields. For example, as someone who wants to learn more about refugee law as a possible area of interest (which is not available to me as a 1L through my courses), I have become a member of the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) at Osgoode. Through my roles within these clubs, I have become exposed to the area of refugee law, and will gain further insights into the type of work that refugee lawyers do. So if there is an area of law that you want to learn more about as a 1L, perhaps check if your school has any clubs or clinics related to that area of law.
Talking to Mentors:
Something I have prioritized during 1L is taking advantage of any mentorship opportunities that come my way. I currently have three mentors, each of which I have been paired with through a different club at Osgoode. As upper-year students, my mentors have already begun to identify their areas of interest and they have offered me guidance into how they selected their respective fields of law. This has allowed me to learn about new areas, and get a first-hand perspective into that particular field of law. In turn, this has helped me to narrow down and identify some areas of law that I am interested in pursuing.
Talking to Professors:
The professors for your 1L classes will often be a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the area of law that they specialize in. Though they might not practice themselves, they can certainly share some insights into what practicing in their field of study would look like. So if there is a class you are especially enjoying and you want to learn about the different ways you can practice in that area, try asking your professor after class or during office hours. My favourite class so far has been Torts, and I had an interesting conversation with my Professor about the different ways that Tort law is practiced in Canada. This opened up a fascinating conversation about some areas of law that I had no idea even existed!
Overall, I have developed these strategies to learn as much as I can about the many fields of law. I’m sure there are so many more fascinating areas that I have not even been exposed to yet, but getting to learn about the different practice areas has made me a more informed and motivated student. While it is important to have an open mind during your 1L year and allow yourself to be exposed to as many areas of law as possible, starting some preliminary work to try to find out what exactly you’re interested in can be a very productive and worthwhile task.
