My Journey in Becoming a Lawyer at 23 (failed 8 classes along the way)

The milestone I never thought would happen.

2014 – Discovering Law & Order and Legally Blonde for the first time

I remember when I was 13 and I first watched Law & Order, and wanted to be more like the lawyers than the detectives.

I also discovered Legally Blonde and realized that I wanted to have the confidence of Elle Woods when she walked into that courtroom and proved everyone wrong.

At that time, I wasn’t like “I DEFINITELY want to become a lawyer”. But that was the moment the seed was planted.

2016 – WTH do I want to do with my life?

Looking back at this year, when I was 15, I can’t believe we were pressured to decide exactly what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives. After all, we were Grade 10, and around 15-16 years old.

There were many things I considered doing: accounting, childcare, and working in insurance… before I fell back into law (a year later, but more on that later).

At that time, I felt that getting into law was almost impossible because it required good grades. Although my grades were generally good, they weren’t “law school worthy good.”

2017 – Mock Trial Days

It was Grade 11 and I participated in a mock trial for the first time. Mock trial is like a “pretend court”, where we have the prosecution and the defence, the judge, the witnesses, and all the cross-examination. It’s like a real court, but we’re only playing pretend.

I played the “barrister” role in mock trial. I remember how much I enjoyed acting as a lawyer like the Law & Order attorneys.

If there was a moment that made me decide to work towards studying law, it was mock trial. I was told that I was good at it, and I felt good at it.

Plus, I was also studying Legal Studies for my Grade 11 & 12 subjects, and it was one of my favorite classes. At least at this point, I knew what goal I was aiming for.

2018 – Getting into law

So, remember how I mentioned earlier that I felt that getting into law was impossible because I didn’t have “law school worthy grades”? Well, before my mid-year Grade 12 exams, I applied for an Early Entry program at Macquarie University.

This Early Entry program learned more towards your extracurriculars, volunteer, and leadership experience, over your grades. However, it was quite competitive for the degrees with a high ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank).

But I put my best foot forward, with the help of my year advisor, and submitted my application… and I got in!

So honestly, I didn’t even have to worry about getting the high ATAR, because I already got the locked-in offer. (But the person I was, I still gave myself a reason to stress about my exams).

2019 – First year of law school

I started my Bachelor of Laws degree when I was 17 in 2019 (I turned 18 that year).

Let me just say that I did not mentally prepare myself for the amount of studying and work involved in studying law.

I wasn’t burnt out, but I was extremely overwhelmed.

I also struggled with comparison and confidence in my first year. I was never the student who participated in class discussions, and constantly felt like I was not smart enough to be in that room.

The first year was consumed with feeling like I wasn’t good enough to be a law student.

2020 to 2021 – Failures & COVID

If you remember the years of 2020 to 2021, you would remember all the lockdowns because of COVID.

I ended up failing 4 classes during this period. When classes were moved from in-person to online, I struggled. I did not know how to study efficiently at home, and had difficulties with managing the classes.

Needless to say, failing my classes knocked down my confidence to ever finish the course. At that point, the peers that I started law school with were flying ahead of me, and I was falling behind.

2022 – failing 8 classes total & new university

I had a hard time as I reached halfway through my law degree. I ended up failing 8 classes in total. I ended up on academic caution. My place at the university was at risk.

At that point, I could not imagine myself becoming a lawyer, let alone finishing my law degree. I was contemplating every day on dropping out of my law degree altogether.

However, I knew that I would regret not finishing my law degree. So, I decided to just transfer universities, have a fresh start, and finish the law degree once and for all.

2023 – New university

Around this time, I had already moved from Sydney to Canberra, so it made sense to just transfer to a university in Canberra.

I felt things picked up. I had study strategies that worked well for me. I put in that extra effort if it meant passing all my classes.

Some of it involved studying until 10 pm every night because I had work that day, or I had church that night.

Some of it involved spending my weekends working on my assessments because that was the only time my schedule allowed.

BUT I got my groove and confidence back. I had hope in finishing this degree.

2024 – So yeah, I wanna be a lawyer after all!

Towards the end of 2023, I got my first law firm role as a paralegal.

You know that saying “you never know until you try?“, that was the case for getting back into my legal career.

While I was contemplating dropping out, I had never worked in a law firm before, so I never gave myself a chance to give working in law a try.

Once I did, I realized that I am so suitable for this career after all, and I wanted to take it to the next level and become a lawyer once I graduated.

I got my spark back :))

Mid 2024 – finally finished the law degree!

After five long years, I finally finished my law degree.

And remember how I was on academic caution 2 years ago? Well, I ended up getting my best grades yet in my final semester with 3 HD’s (technically A’s for those using that system lol). I was so happy with this because all I wanted was to pass. As long as I didn’t fail a class, I would’ve been so happy.

Also in mid-2024, Started the Practical Legal Training (PLT)

As a final step before admission, I began the Practical Legal Training (PLT), which is where you need to get the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice.

I also moved to Melbourne around this time and started applying from grad roles from there.

As part of the PLT, I also had to do a mandatory placement. Leo Cussen Centre for Law offered the option to arrange the placement for you, which I chose.

I ended up getting offered a job at the end of it 🙂

End of 2024

As soon as I finished the PLT, I immediately began the admissions process.

The end of 2024 involved me submitting my documents for admission. It was extra hectic because it was the holiday season, plus I went to two universities, so that meant more documents to follow up on.

But we got there in the end.

2025 – FINALLY a lawyer!

Around a month before my 24th birthday, I officially got admitted as a lawyer!

It felt so surreal because I somehow flashed back to all the times I felt like I would never get here.

To be honest, I did not believe I would make it.

2019 (first year) me didn’t think I’d make it.

2020 & 2021 me who failed 4 classes definitely believed that I would not make it.

And omg, 2022 me, who failed 8 classes total and was in academic caution, wholeheartedly believe that I was not good enough to be a lawyer and will never make it.

But I’m so glad that I proved them wrong.

Yes, there are days as a lawyer where I question if I’m smart or good enough for this career. So, I have to remind myself of my capabilities and strengths because I wouldn’t be here without them.

Is being a lawyer like being in Law & Order? No. Is it like Legally Blonde? No.

But I do feel a purpose in this career. I feel like it is impactful to me just as much as it is to the people I help.

I guess I’ve got to give myself a little credit?

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