Dennis graduated from the Singapore Management University JD Programme in July 2017. He is currently a Senior Associate at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, practising commercial litigation and international arbitration. He was previously in the Singapore Legal Service and had specialised in banking and financial disputes in another Big 4 law firm.
This letter is addressed to his younger self 9 years ago in 2014, when he decided to join the JD programme.
Dear Dennis
You have just completed a four-year degree programme from NUS.
You are contemplating whether to enrol in the JD Programme or start looking for a job.
Your partner is looking to settle down and start a family (to be fair to her she has outwardly expressed support for your intention to continue studying, but let’s just say you see and recognise the hints).
You are not sure what to do.
So, what do you do?
You enrol in the program.
Here are three points I wanted to share with you about the journey you will be embarking on.
Taking the leap of faith
Why did you enrol in the program?
Probably the key reason was that the JD Programme would allow you to join the legal profession. As a member of this profession, the skillsets you pick up will remain relevant and applicable throughout your entire working career. Even if you do leave the profession, having legal training will put you in good stead for a career in just about any field you choose.
Learning from the best
You will be taught by some of the brightest minds in the law industry.
In fact, one of your instructors would become a Judicial Commissioner with the Supreme Court of Singapore. Another would firmly establish (in less than a decade) SMU’s famed international moots programme in the pantheons of the mooting powerhouses of the world. Yet others would impress upon you insights from legal practice that no textbook could teach.
And it is not all about the instructors.
You will learn from your classmates, too. You will interact with businesspeople, engineers, former civil servants, police officers and even a doctor (from the junior batch). The conversations you will have with them and the perspectives you will gain – there’s nothing quite like it. There is no boring day at school.
The people you meet in law school will leave lasting impressions on you not just personally, but professionally as well.
And there are the internships. Don’t dread them – embrace them. Don’t do “just enough” internships to graduate – do more. You will find that you grow exponentially as a lawyer by rolling up your sleeves and wading chest-deep in actual legal work.
Living the life of a lawyer
Speaking of actual practice, by the time you are reading this letter, I would have been a lawyer for more than 5 years now. (Happily married to aforementioned partner)
Yes, practice will be demanding. You will very quickly be expected to brief your seniors and advise clients. You will very quickly realise how others rely heavily on your views. And there is no hiding behind anyone else. These definitely are daunting tasks for a lawyer fresh in practice.
Rest assured though. You will be pleasantly surprised by how much the SMU pedagogy prepares you for these realities of practice.
Because you would have been “cold called” by your instructors at SMU to give your thoughts; you would have gone through all those class presentations in school, where you would have had to take ownership of the content you present and defend your positions against inquisitive queries from your classmates.
If you ask me now, looking back at 2014, would I have enrolled in the JD Programme all over again?
I would say, yes – without a doubt.
Sincerely,
Dennis