Lawyering: it’s a physical and psychological scrimmage.

Official advice focuses on workplace best practice guidelines. Pace yourself, take regular work breaks, get enough food, sleep, and exercise. But the reality is that law life is a combat zone – you do what you can in the time that you have and in the circumstances that you find yourself in.

Often this means sacrificing food, sleep, and personal needs, not to mention pulling all-nighters right before exams or that major work deadline. Hurl.

While toiling under extreme work or study conditions is not something we endorse, if you must do it then make sure you’re doing it right.

According to a study of children and teenagers following major surgery, music was capable of reducing physical pain. The effects were even more pronounced where children chose their own music.

Dr Lynn Webster from the American Academy of Pain Medicine says music:

Can generate not only a focus and reduction in anxiety, but it can induce a feeling of euphoria.”

In another study, two daily sessions of music relieved chronic pain symptoms related to conditions such fibromyalgia, inflammatory disease, or neurological conditions as well as anxiety and depression linked to chronic pain.

So if you find yourself in worlds of work or study hurt, here are our picks of the best tracks to ease your legally burdened mind.

Think we’ve missed any classic legally-themed songs? Let us know in the comments!

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Of all undergraduate degrees, law students must cope with constant stress, pressure and tight deadlines. Not only must we read, digest, understand and apply a large volume of complex legal principles quickly but also stay across the ever-changing legal landscape and compete for the best grades – all this stress takes a toll.

The first reported study into depression in the Australian legal community revealed a high level of psychological distress and risk of depression in law students and practising lawyers when compared with Australian community norms and other tertiary student groups.

While some ongoing patterns of procrastination can be indicative of serious underlying stress management issues – where your procrastination, for example, consistently prevents you from completing your university work or where you regularly need to seek extensions of time to submit assessments – in most cases, procrastination is a healthy coping mechanism and our brain’s clever way of taking a necessary and temporary mental health break between intense study sessions.

Sometimes we may not even know that we are procrastinating. But by putting off certain tasks and convincing ourselves that we have enough time to do them later, we are actually putting ourselves under even more pressure.

This self-defeating cycle can negatively affect our lives in more ways than we care to acknowledge. Procrastination can discourage you from meeting your goals and harm your sense of self-worth. An ongoing lack of study motivation can also lead you to lose precious time working towards your career goals or mean that you miss out on exciting new opportunities.

To minimise the effects of procrastination, here are six motivational tips I have developed during my time in law school.

Make A To-Do List

For law students, having solid organisational skills is gold.

Each study unit has hundreds of cases and materials to read, summarise and apply in real world scenarios. To split your study time effectively between subjects, and reduce your mental burden about ‘what you haven’t done’ you have to be highly organised and disciplined.

I categorise my tasks into subject areas such as Torts and Contract Law. Within those subjects, tasks are broken down into sub-tasks such as making case summaries, writing notes or catching up on missed lecture audio. To help organise your ‘To Do’ list, you can download free apps like Wunderlist which make it easy to create multiple lists, set due date and reminders, add sub-tasks, attach files and add notes. If you are working with other students on a group project you can even make a collaborative list with discrete tasks that each student needs to complete. You can add or check off tasks for a particular member and leave comments for others.

If you are not a digital person, write each task on a separate post-it (different colours for different subjects) and stick it to your wall or your desk. You will feel a wave of relief wash over you every time you rip up a post-it after finishing a task.

O-riginal tip: Completing just a few tasks every day gives your brain a reward and reduces your stress as you can see that you are making progress. It also incentivises slow, consistent, methodical and reduced-stress study habits.

Set Priorities And Get It Out The Way

Even when we try to plan out our day-to-day tasks effectively, unexpected life hiccups inevitably pop up.

At times like these, it’s important to master the art of prioritisation and preparation. Focus on the most important task and avoid spending too much time on less important priorities since a lack of proper preparation may lead to poorly structured arguments or exam responses.

During exam preparation, for example, we are taught to first pinpoint and spend the most time dealing with the main critical issue in a problem question. We address less contentious issues briefly with the time remaining once all the other important legal principles have been discussed.

The same principles apply to your study life. When the opportunity to make some extra money by working an extra shift at your cafe job eats into your study time, for example, pick out and prioritise the most important subjects and tasks that you critically need to focus on this week. This could mean centring your attention around an upcoming tutorial presentation or mooting competition. You may evaluate your strengths and decide to spend more time studying for an Equity & Trusts exam over an easier elective subject as one subject area requires intense study energy, whereas the other is more intuitive for you.

O-riginal tip: Limit the possibility of procrastination by dealing with the most pressing task at hand.

Ask For Help

Balancing a healthy lifestyle with executing a strict and effective study plan is not always easy and can be very isolating. It is always okay to ask for help or advice from other students when you need it.

In spite of many recent positive inroads, like the Law Council of Australia’s national initiative to counter unconscious gender bias in the legal profession, unfortunately, in many ways, more senior legal roles are still a very much a ‘boys club’ with the contacts made on the rugby field often making or breaking legal careers.

Given the high likelihood that you will end up working with people from law school at some point in your career, why not make the most of these early opportunities to establish solid and supportive female relationships and networks by forming female study groups?

The importance of developing strong female friendships founded on collaboration over competition when working in a male-dominated field like law cannot be underestimated.

Studying alongside your peers and holding each other up during stressful times builds strong and lasting friendships that will carry you through your legal career. It also helps you to develop collaborative working skills and the ability to easily adjust to different working environments.

Plus, you get to let off some much-needed steam and balance the stress and monotony of study with some light-hearted fun, junk food and study breaks while also spending quality time with friends who really understand what you are going through.

O-riginal tip: Just like having a gym buddy keeps you motivated to exercise, having study buddies keeps you on track with your study schedule by holding you to account if you fall behind in your readings. It’s a win-win situation! 

Come Up With A Deterrent Method

Coming up with some kind of negative consequence for failing to complete your set task for the day can reinforce your need to complete it.

For example, if you don’t finish writing the introduction to your essay in the next two hours, you can’t go out on Friday night.

In law school, most of us come up with our own negative consequences all the time – mostly just to avoid being over-stressed and underprepared during exam period.

The consequences you set for yourself don’t need to be serious or catastrophically impact your life or relationships – they are just meant to serve as a reminder to stay on your feet and to set aside regular chunks of time to study.

Focus On The End Result

Avoid thinking about how you feel when you first sit down to study and instead try to focus on the amazing feeling of relief, achievement and joy you will feel when you’re finally done with that annoying task. Getting rid of that gnawing feeling of worry is the daily dose of motivation you need to keep going.

All law students can relate to that feeling when you submit an assessment that is not your best work. This is often a clear sign of the aftermath of excessive procrastination.

The trick is not to dwell on what might have been. Instead treat this as a learning experience to plan better for your next assessment and to set aside more time to complete it in manageable chunks. On the other hand, some of us do our best work under pressure so, who knows, you might even get a much better mark than you expected.

O-riginal tip: Your future self will love your past self for all the groundwork you have laid. 

Just Do It!

Stop bargaining with yourself about the length of time it will take you to complete an outstanding task and whether you have time to go out for coffee catch up this morning. Most importantly, never engage in self-reprimand about what you have not achieved this week.

Instead, take control, set your alarm (we recommend waking up to Dwayne Johnson gently singing you out of your deep slumber), get up at 6.00am and start making a dent in your work. Tackle your most difficult task first when your brain is still fresh. This frees you up to complete tasks that require less mental energy later in the afternoon and also to catch up with friends guilt free.

O-riginal tip: The fastest way to stop procrastinating is to just get it done!

When It Comes To Procrastination

I am aware that most of you are probably reading this article to the very end because you are engaged in an epic procrastination session. Nevertheless, hopefully, you managed to pick up some useful anti-procrastination tips along the way.

The bottom line is that if you go about your study with a positive attitude (even if you are studying Constitutional law this semester, blerg!) you can achieve anything. Recognising a bad pattern of behaviour and taking control of the situation before it escalates is the first step in preventing yourself from slacking off and developing unproductive study habits.

Are you a procrastinator or a planner? How do you motivate yourself to keep studying when you’re feeling apathetic? Let is know in the comments!

I have lost count of the number of lawyer jokes I have heard, as well as the number of times that I have been labelled a “failed lawyer” or a “reformed lawyer”.

What does a lawyer get when you give him Viagra?

Taller.

But in spite of the inevitable jibes and jokes, many of us choose to pursue legal careers because of a desire to do good and to help solve the life problems of others (and where do our friends and family turn when they need legal help? Yup, you guessed it).

So let’s be upfront about this – being a lawyer is not the only thing you can do with a law degree. The skills you learn through studying law are not only relevant inside a courtroom or a law firm but are also transferrable in everyday life.

1. You know how to read contracts

Anyone who has entered a contract for a new personal loan or a rental property knows how exceedingly long, complex and dull they are. As a law graduate, you know that most contracts contain a certain number of standard clauses which are generally the same irrespective of the contract. This insider knowledge means that you can skim read to find the most important stuff that affects you. For a personal loan, this might be the repayment terms or the interest rates.

Having an exceedingly thick skin (which develops from many years of punishing legal training and on-the-job experience) means that you are also undeterred from reading a contract in full before signing – even as the bank manager lets out a great sigh of frustration.

2. You know how to shop for goods and services

As a graduate with a law degree, your intimate knowledge of Australian Consumer Law means that you are one of those annoying people who realise that the door-to-door salesperson is really only good for a cup of tea (unsolicited consumer agreements anyone?). You also understand that the additional warranty that the television retailer is trying to add to your purchase price is less than the amount required by guarantees applying to goods.

While cute, you also realise that those “You break it, you buy it” signs are completely unlawful and would never stand up in front of the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal.

3. You know how to research, especially if you need to go to Court

The prospect of going to a Court or Tribunal to settle an issue does not intimidate you.

You can research your way out of any situation (or at least a rental dispute or a divorce) and you’re not afraid to file or write the correct forms and documents yourself.

4. You know how to argue

You can argue like a lawyer by forming a reasoned and cogent opinion  – usually on the spur of the moment. When the need arises you are also capable of using your sharp intellect and mean word merchant skills to insult someone’s intelligence, (usually) without the need to resort to name-calling.

Lawyering also gives you the uncanny power to see both sides of an argument. With your innate ability to forecast the future and predict your opponent’s next likely conversational move – whether in a friendly verbal jousting session over Friday night drinks or a formal political debate – you are always one step ahead.

5. You know how to negotiate

You can advocate for issues that you are passionate about.

If you have done enough extracurricular mooting or negotiation competitions in law school, you know how to construct a Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA). In any negotiation, you understand when your opponent has the upper hand (and the best strategy is to settle) and when you have your adversary on the run (and it’s time to bring down the hammer).

6. You are highly organised and manage your time to within a fraction of a millisecond

The stress of law school turns many of us into master procrastinators. While generally viewed as a negative habit, your procrastination has actually trained you to perform well in any difficult situation. You not only know how to manage your time effectively (remember squeezing an entire Semester of revision into the 6 hours before your 100% Commonwealth Constitutional law exam?) but also how to perform well under crushing pressure and little sleep.

These planning, organisational and time-management skills serve you well in life – whether it’s presenting a work project at the last minute, or managing a team of staff on less than four hours of sleep.

Law graduates have done it all that before – and the inevitable strain of life doesn’t phase you but rather plays to your strengths.

7. You are a human lie detector

Law graduates are a pretty suspicious bunch.

Trawling through hundreds of cases involving vitriolic divorces or heated estate disputes will do that to you. Cross-examining your opponent in court for inconsistencies in their case also trains you to constantly subconsciously assess whether the person you are speaking to has a hidden agenda or is not being completely up front with you.

The good news is that you can use your newfound cynicism and flair for identifying fabrications in virtually any situation in life – from knowing when someone is actively lying to you or simply omitting facts to managing your friendships, relationships and even your work life better.

8. You know how to extract information

You have a sixth sense for knowing when someone is hiding something from you.

You also know the best way to extract the information you want while delicately skirting around an issue to avoid raising any alarm bells.

9. You know when opening your mouth is going to make it worse

Generally, as a law graduate, you know it’s not a great idea to abuse police if you are pulled over for a breathalyser or stopped for a random drug check at a music festival.

You know that sometimes silence is the best answer and that often appealing the fine at a later date is the best option.

At the end of the day

A law degree trains you to think analytically and solve problems logically. It’s a unique mix of skills that can take you anywhere in life and your career.

So the next time one of your friends throws a sharp lawyer joke your way, don’t forget to remind them how rad and diverse your legal talents are – because the chances are that they will need to call on your amazing advice one day.

What life skills do you think your law degree has taught you? Think we’ve missed anything? Let us know in the comments!

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