Real Life Careers: Attorney

For this ‘Real Life Careers’ post, we chatted with Amy Harpur (29), a qualified attorney, who is currently living in Boston. She holds a BSocSci; LLB (Cum Laude) from UKZN. She shares her insights into how she traveled the path of a career in Law, and how she navigates the corporate world as an attorney.

High school

Amy answered some questions about her experiences in high school and how they impacted on and developed her.

Q: What subjects did you take at school?

A: Maths, English, Afrikaans, Biology, French, Drama.

Q: What were your favourite subjects at school?

A: I enjoyed drama, for its combination of theoretical and practical work, as well as French (I have always enjoyed languages). While I did not enjoy Physical Science in the least bit (and accordingly did not take it for Matric), Biology was one of my favorite subjects.

Q: Would you say any of your favourite subjects have been helpful to your degree and career?

A: None of the subjects I took at school were directly useful in my degree and career. However, I would say

Drama was useful in preparing me for public performance and public speaking,

which is something lawyers have to do if their practice involves court appearances. Most junior lawyers spend a fair amount of time appearing in court in their first couples of years in practice.

Q: What skills that you learnt at school have proved helpful?

A: I would say that maths has assisted me when I have had to do mathematical calculations in legal matters, however this is generally at a fairly basic level. As I mentioned above, the skills learnt in drama to perform publicly probably assisted in building my confidence to “perform” in court when arguing matters.

Q: What do you wish you had done more of while at school?

A: When I finished school (2004), there were no subjects on practical matters such as how to submit tax returns to SARS or how electricity and water supply works in relevant municipalities in relation to either being a tenant or property owner, etc. I am not sure whether these practical skills are currently taught at schools. I believe they should be. Other than that, I don’t wish I had done anything differently at school.

Q: Were you aware of your current career path when you were in high school?

A: I did not ever seriously consider the career path as an attorney while I was at high school. This was mostly because I don’t think I really understood what attorneys do. I had no real idea of what career path I wanted to follow when I left high school, and that is why I decided to do a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree first. This allowed me to take a variety of different classes –

the best decision I have ever made!

University

When leaving school and heading into varsity, there are many factors that influence our path through the tertiary education system. In this section Amy reflects upon her path through her degree.

Q: Did you take a gap year, and why?

A: I did not take a gap year because my parents encouraged me to attend university which I was also keen to do. I had a lot of friends attending university that year, and I had no desire to take a gap year.

Q: Did you get into your first choice Degree/institution?

A: Yes I did (Bachelor of Social Science)

Q: Did you start tertiary education pursuing the degree you ended with?

A: During my BSocSci degree, I took various law subjects (which are very usefully offered in the BSocSci degree), which meant that by the time I decided I wanted to do an LLB in addition to by BScoSci degree, I only needed to spend two extra years completing my LLB degree (in addition to the three year BSocSci degree).

Q: What attracted you to pursue the Degree and career you did?

A: I was exposed to legal subjects during my BscoSci degree. I found that I was more passionate about my legal subjects than any other of my subjects, and also, that I was good at them!

Q: Is your current career path related to your Degree?

A: Until a recent move overseas with my Husband to pursue his career, I was a partner at a law firm in Durban, which is directly related to my LLB degree.

Q: Have you done Postgraduate studies?

A: No. The LLB degree is an honors degree (considered postgraduate in South Africa). I am undecided as to whether I will pursue any further studies.

Career: Attorney

Amy now answers some questions that are specific to her current career. This gives us insight into some of the the realities of being an attorney and her specialisation(s).

Q: Do you have a specific focus or speciality within your field?

A: My work as an attorney involved two specialist areas of law – shipping and mining.

Q: Why did you choose this specialty?

A:

Most attorneys (especially in medium to large sized law firms) end up practicing in specialist areas of law – it is the nature of the profession/business.

The firm that I was working at asked me if I would move from the general litigation department (where most junior attorneys begin their legal career) to join the shipping and mining department, and I happily accepted. It is generally considered wise for an attorney to become an expert in an area of law, for a variety of reasons, one of them being that it is easier to build a loyal client base in that manner.

Q: What does your job involve day to day?

A: As an attorney, my day to day work changed as I progressed from being a candidate attorney (spending 3 – 4 days a week in court), to eventually being a partner (which involved spending most days in the office consulting with clients, emailing clients, preparing legal opinions, preparing for matters to go to trial, etc). Occasionally I would need to travel to Johannesburg to meet and consult with clients and to accompany the advocates we briefed in matters that were before the Gauteng High Courts.

Q: What ‘things’ would you recommend individuals who are wanting to go into your field to consider?

A: I would recommend to anyone wanting to follow the career path of an attorney to

be sure that you are excited about thinking and arguing about the law.

Otherwise you may find it deathly boring! I am still excited when I get to argue a point in law, and I believe that it is important to be passionate in this way. I am not saying you need to be passionate about the morality of a particular law, but just about the argument itself. An aspect of being an attorney that I was not aware of when I was at University is that an attorney is also a businessperson – s/he must market her/himself to clients, and maintain client relationships (It is not only about the law!)

Keep an eye out for the next post in our ‘Real Life Careers’ series. The first post in the series looks at the path of Chemical Engineer.