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Law deals with the rules governing society, the fact that it envelopes aspects from politics, sociology and economics appeals to me. Law manages to permeate every part of today’s world; it is very much involved and influenced by current affairs. My cultural background has shaped my interest in Shariah law and it’s relevance in the ELS. My parents were divorced under the mechanism of Shariah Law and I have looked at the wider impact ever since. In Abu Dhabi, state law and Shariah law are integrated. Within the English legal system this would not be possible due to the diverse society and even if it were to form part in the legal system, it would amount to huge controversy. Dr. R. Williams has commented “an approach to law which simply said – there’s one law for everybody – I think that’s a bit of a danger”. The challenge of the law is to constantly change, adapting to meet the needs of the community it represents and in a diverse multi-ethnic society, this evolution is critical to prevent social unrest.

An area of law that interests me is jurisprudence, especially the study of legal positivism. This thought captivates me because I personally disagree with the fact that law should not necessarily reflect moral guidelines, as I believe law and morals are fundamentally linked. Hart’s view in "The Concept of Law" has enabled me to appreciate the opinions in favour of keeping ethics and morals separate from the law and this gave me the opportunity to reflect and assess my own views. This made me realise that basic moral principles should be protected in our modern society. For instance, in the case of Imam, marrying a child of 12 created huge media concern about different morality.

Politics gave me an appreciation of the tension between parliamentary and judicial law making. However, judges’ do not have the luxury of avoiding difficult issues and if there were a conflict between a case determining Shariah law and other interests, they would have to determine the issue unlike Parliament. When an issue becomes sufficiently high profile however, Parliament can make laws that affect the whole country. For instance, while studying Law we have looked at ‘Claire’s Law’ where new partners can be informed on their abusive partners past. This I believe is a step forward to prevent domestic violence even though it breaches ECHR on privacy. From my studies in Sociology, Law can be seen as a form of Social Control. Durkheim states it is a “boundary maintaining system”. This means laws protects society from people who aren’t fully socialised and protects the cherished norms of society. Without law; would society cease to exist? I believe so because law is an indispensable basic need in the 21st century.

Recently, my free time has been spent at my local law firm helping with current cases and observing courts in session. This opened my eyes to the work and responsibilities of solicitors and barristers as they often have to prepare documents to attend court, research statements and consult with their clients. Whilst reading cases, I discovered that the divorce of my parents under Shariah law was different with the individuals under English law, as men have greater advantage in Shariah law. This puts women in difficult situations as the finances are not equally spilt.

I was nominated a Peer mentor in school, which allowed me to liaise with students and teachers; assessing, addressing and responding to students’ problems and concerns. I developed this skill further by being in the School Council. Playing competitive tennis matches requires me to work independently and in a team helping my partner. Since the age of 14, I have had various temporary jobs, for instance, whilst working in a nursery, a young girl had limited English, to support her I had to develop new ways of communicating and understanding. This reminded me that basic rights are not available for the voiceless and I hope to change that.

In the future I would like to become a Lawyer and I feel a University degree will give me great fundamentals for a law career and are conducive to my career interests.

That’s very good 🙂
The only bit that could be improved is the last par. It would be good if you showed you understood that you needed a Law Society approvedou had law degree to be a lawyer and that’s why you were applying for certain courses and perhaps said which branch of law you were most interested in – or that you were undecided and would be deciding when you had more experience. We very much like to see that you’ve understood the career pathways