Again I’ll just flag I’m happy to have a call to discuss this with you!
2: I think it varies between law schools and my impression is Usyd might be just particularly harsh marks wise. For what it’s worth, undergrad and JD students are marked together at Usyd. 12% getting HD’s seem high to me (I think Usyd is minimum 1% and max 5%?) but sounds like that’s just an exception to the norm. Also, I agree that philosophy is a great background (it is also mine!) though I have found I personally work about twice as hard for law and receive a grade on average marks 10 lower.
3: Yep, I’m in undergrad. I’ve always aimed to work in the US/​UK and have only recently been looking into Aus options, so my views aren’t very informed/​considered. For what it’s worth, I have applied to a few jobs (e.g. UK Fast Stream) with the intention of not finishing my law degree if I was accepted. I probably would at least consider the APS grad streams in the situation you suggest.
As for your last question, I think that it’s very likely that if you’re particularly suited for law and enthusiastic about it (which it sounds like you are) that there will be ways of using the vocation to have an impact in your career. Within Australia, for example, working for the ALRC seems very promising. I personally doubt those options would be in corporate law (aside from earning to give) or criminal law. Given those are the standard paths, I’d strongly encourage having a think about what the more impactful careers might be so that you can plan for them early on and not get swept up by the conventional route.
No problem :)
Again I’ll just flag I’m happy to have a call to discuss this with you!
2: I think it varies between law schools and my impression is Usyd might be just particularly harsh marks wise. For what it’s worth, undergrad and JD students are marked together at Usyd. 12% getting HD’s seem high to me (I think Usyd is minimum 1% and max 5%?) but sounds like that’s just an exception to the norm. Also, I agree that philosophy is a great background (it is also mine!) though I have found I personally work about twice as hard for law and receive a grade on average marks 10 lower.
3: Yep, I’m in undergrad. I’ve always aimed to work in the US/​UK and have only recently been looking into Aus options, so my views aren’t very informed/​considered. For what it’s worth, I have applied to a few jobs (e.g. UK Fast Stream) with the intention of not finishing my law degree if I was accepted. I probably would at least consider the APS grad streams in the situation you suggest.
As for your last question, I think that it’s very likely that if you’re particularly suited for law and enthusiastic about it (which it sounds like you are) that there will be ways of using the vocation to have an impact in your career. Within Australia, for example, working for the ALRC seems very promising. I personally doubt those options would be in corporate law (aside from earning to give) or criminal law. Given those are the standard paths, I’d strongly encourage having a think about what the more impactful careers might be so that you can plan for them early on and not get swept up by the conventional route.