Through a Glass, Darkly: Out of Context
The verse continues here below, / to find out what we should not know.
Archetypes and Actuality by Makayla Nassar
Can you guess the commonality between Legally Blonde, Crazy Stupid Love, and The Paper Chase? Is it their Golden Globe-nominated actors? No. Rotten Tomatoes score? Wrong. It is that these three movies typify, or attempt to typify, law school life.
Unfortunately, Reese Witherspoon is not the central focus of this article. Instead, I am here to discuss the law school experience; a journey repeatedly presented as lavish and glamorous, which is definitely not true.
Films tend to exhibit a skewed reality when involving characters who are law students. Day-to-day life is often embellished for no reason that I can determine. Is it meant to signal the degree’s superiority over other degrees? Is it to signify the importance of the law? I could not tell you. All I know is that my first year of law school was in shambles. In fact, it was an absolute jump scare.
While I had constantly heard that ‘law is hard work’, films show their law student characters breezing through their degree straight to graduation. The typical scene that attempts to display the grit required for a law degree is one where a student sighs into their textbook (screenwriters forget that sighs turn into the vile consumption of three Monsters to finally complete a 60-page reading and quiz due at 11pm). Nonetheless, the result was me believing ‘she’ll be right’.
She was, in fact, not alright. I ran off of the loosest interpretation of a schedule, consisting entirely of mentally noting exam dates. My stress about my assignments, making friends, and all that foundies jazz resulted in a lost perception of time. Did my awareness of my lost perception mean that I attempted to manage my time? No, I did not. I still procrastinated and submitted assignments tens of minutes before the deadline (that is, without proofreading).
Contrast this with film's beloved law school students. A paradise where any character studying law plays a varsity sport, has an exceptional social life, and maintains an extraordinarily high GPA.
Film archetypes like these have created a perception of the quintessential law student: how a law student looks, talks, and acts. Pop culture has so thoroughly cultivated the personality of a law student, people automatically assume you are well-dressed, articulate, organised, and intelligent. Truthfully, these characteristics are not me at all.
No cashmere sweaters. No polo shirts. No leatherback diaries gleaming with my daily ‘To-Do List’ written in pristine calligraphy. Never have I remotely resembled the fresh and radiant Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. I attend university wearing pajamas and Ugg boots (Crocs if the weather is hot), the ultimate fashion choice for one who has just gotten out of bed. The night before class I run on a maximum of six hours of sleep, cramming my readings and lecture notes the night before.
According to Robert Luketic, I was promised strong academic comebacks, dazzling monochromatic outfits, and a purse Chihuahua to bring to class. I was never told I had to cite every second word I wrote in a 2000-word essay. I was never told I would be up until 3am finding scholarly articles that suited the 2000-word essay I was writing.
Is it worth it? Absolutely. Hard work always pays off. Tears roll from my eyes when I uncover that glorious 65% on Turnitin after lying in bed and working on my ILAC assignment for 6 straight hours three weeks beforehand. It is about time we start embracing the ‘law school’ experience for what it truly is: hard work, tears, an absurd sleeping schedule, microwavable meals, and excessive procrastination.
Review: The Truth Hurts by Bradley Cagauan
Andrew Boe has practiced in the frontlines of the criminal courts since 1989. The Truth Hurts (Hachette Australia, 2020) is his account of the constant struggle between the state’s power, the individual and his own personal journey as a barrister and activist. Boe, the son of Burmese political refugees, grew up in low-middle-class Queensland. He is acutely aware of the failings of the system and the struggle to balance one’s mission as a criminal lawyer with the knowledge that the institution produces inherently discriminatory outcomes. For example, Boe writes about the Queensland Government’s apathetic response to the death of an Aboriginal man in custody on Palm Island, the criminalisation of offensive language as a way of policing the poor and the Kafkaesque system that indefinitely detains stateless asylum seekers (which, as of 2023, is no longer lawful).
He recounts his representation of serial killer Ivan Milat after the Milat family rejected a range of lawyers. While both the Supreme Court and the court of public opinion have judged Milat as a monster, Boe writes about Milat as being a polite, ‘ideal client’ and a man who cradled Boe after he fell asleep on Milat’s shoulder. While the case exposed Boe and his team to graphic material and resulted in lawyers leaving the industry, he justifies his vigorous defence of Milat with his commitment to affording everyone, even those accused of the most heinous of crimes, with the presumption of innocence, the prevailing belief that empowers his advocacy.
However, Boe is not an idealist. He witnessed the jury’s anger surge in one particular case of brutal domestic violence where, despite being convinced of his client’s guilt, he felt himself stand and ask the judge to dismiss the trial after the complainant refused to give evidence. It is the dilemma that fascinates the layperson: defending the guilty. While he followed his client’s instructions, he reprimanded him to never speak with the complainant again. He was unable to sleep the night after the acquittal, fearing his client would do it again. In domestic violence cases, Boe illustrates how women disproportionately bear the brunt of injustice.
Criminal justice can only ever be a system of trade-offs: we tolerate guilty people walking free to protect the rights of individuals from overzealous prosecution. It is extremely difficult to balance multiple interests in such a pluralistic society. How do we use law to best protect the community? What can we do for complainants in sexual assault cases? How can we protect the rights of individuals when politicians campaign on ‘law and order’ style policies? How can we satisfy all these parties?
Boe offers no easy answers, but his vivid account of the Australian criminal justice system is a good start. Only by understanding the system can things change and one of the most powerful lessons of the criminal law is this: being treated equal before the law cannot be achieved by simply treating everyone the same because to do so would cause significant injustice.
Australian law was largely created by land-owning male English settlers, and so to better accommodate the many backgrounds that come before the law, these roots and history must be evaluated to allow for the system to be assessed in a piecemeal fashion. If this is not done, justice will continue to elude us.
The Boxer Edition #017 by Leo Chang
Editor's Welcome
Welcome back to Issue 17 of The Boxer in 2024! The incoming Editor-in-Chief of our rival publication, The Brief, has sought to suppress our publication through underhanded tactics. Well, we’ll find a way to survive! We have underhanded tactics, too! Who knows where our new home will be?
News
ChatGPT Graduates From Law School
CAMPERDOWN — ChatGPT, the large language model developed by US nonprofit OpenAI, has earned an LLB with honours from the University of NSW. Having completed the Priestley 11 and sufficient elective units, it graduated in November with a WAM of 54; the third highest in the history of UNSW Law School.
Marrickville Officially Recognised As 'Western Sydney': Northern Beaches Council
DEE WHY — A case made by the Northern Beaches Council to the Supreme Court of NSW has seen Marrickville officially recognised as ‘western Sydney’. The Inner West Council has sought to challenge the ruling and will rename themselves the ‘Inner Council’ later this year to distance themselves from the controversy. The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils has declined to comment.
Model 'Model Rules' Published By Law Council of Australia
CANBERRA — The Law Council of Australia has published their model 'model rules' for 2024. The model rules outline the model rules that model organisations ought to implement when ruled. In related news, the Models' Council of Australia has unveiled their top models for 2024.
Killer Dogs Maul Law Lecturer
MACQUARIE PARK — A pack of enraged pitbulls have brutally mauled and killed a law lecturer at Macquarie University. Dr Chad Quagmire, 47, was killed in an incident that local police have described as 'shocking' and 'heartbreaking'. This tragedy is one of many to recently befall the Ryde campus, which only recently witnessed the closure of its second Chatime location.
Advice Column
Send your letters to Addy, the advice columnist for The Boxer!
Dear Addy,
I recently started my second year of commerce at Macquarie, and although I have decent marks and a job as a secretary, I feel really empty. Ever since I graduated from school, I've fallen out of contact with so many of my friends, even though I promised I wouldn’t. Even my boyfriend broke up with me, and I find myself doubting everything he ever said to me.
All the students in my tutorials are silent and seem to hate talking to me. I feel like my tutors barely care about whether we pass or fail. At work, everyone's so much more proficient than me. I want to help, I really do, but they don't seem to need me or want me.
Ever since their divorce, my parents seem to be competing for my love, scoring points over their ex. I don't want them to fight, but I honestly don't know if they love me anymore.
Hope you can provide some words of advice. Thank you.
Rebecca.
Dear Rebecca,
Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, The Boxer is a law-student publication, and since you’re only taking commerce, you are not eligible to receive advice.
However, if you pay just five dollars to become a MULS member, we’ll be happy to help!
Hope all goes well!
Addy.
Discipulis Legis by Anya Maclure
[Macquarie University Library] 12 November 2023, 22:43.
Dearest Reader,
As my evening in the library drew to a close, I became acutely aware of a new creature of which I am in awe. Among biodegradable coffee cups and crumpled cans of concentrated caffeine, the textbooks and notes of the subject lay scattered like the remains of a magic show gone wrong, framing what can only be described as the latest breakdown of the session two exam season. As you know, dear reader, my latest assessment deadline urges me to report on creatures and oddities within the tertiary environment – and I think I may have found my best subject yet.
With the promise of a mention in a LinkedIn post and yet another Monster, I managed to persuade the stubborn subject to a quick break and an interview.
These are my observations of my subject – the Law Student.
Within the midst of a deathly caffeine addiction and a god complex to challenge Kanye West, if its species resembled anything remotely similar to the subject, I cannot describe this breed as a miracle of nature – only as a monster of creation. Eager in its demeanour and charming when it matters, my background research on this special species has led me to learn that they have stumped even the greatest of psychologists.
When asked why someone would choose to learn about snails in bottles and pour over legislation as horrific as the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), the subject sat up with a twinkle in its eyes. If I’m being honest, dear reader, beyond bouts of mumbo-jumbo about a ‘Harvey Spectre’, being able to afford a house in a cost-of-living crisis, and maybe helping those in need, my findings for this report must omit anything it said as I simply did not understand. But beyond this, its persistence, determination and pure grit were evident. Heck, it was still in the library past 10pm on a Sunday! Was it masochism, or just pure psychopathy? Perhaps both, and a bit of imposter syndrome, tied up in a box with a neat bow made of thinly disguised self-righteousness ribbon.
I must admit that this entry is but a hazy and rushed recollection of my interview. When asked if it would be open to a further interview, it mentioned something along the lines of ‘needing a fee to be paid on a fixed dollar amount for each hour, or part of an hour.’
I will do no such thing.
If you have any suggestions on how to obtain more information from another member of this species, I would be much obliged.
I must leave it here, dear reader. Until next time, keep well and stay safe.
Yours truly,
The Psychology Student.
Medius Terra by Olivia Chan
Blood.
Red permeates the atmosphere,
slashing the ground
with a twenty-foot spear,
tainting the soil six feet underground.
Silence.
Black wisps snag each wall,
circling and hissing,
clutching at young hearts and
sucking them hollow to the core.
Sometimes, forever is just one second —
Life can change in one whisper,
one breath.
One declaration of love, and
one of despair.
Truth.
Muffled screams fall short
from the trifold iron walls,
behind which spirals d
o
w
n
deep stairs
above the gaze of a flesh-coloured brute —
Encoded by a few.
Controlled by two.
Led by one.
Fled by none.
These segments were originally published under the titles ‘Beyond the Gavel: The Media and the Truth; A Review of The Truth Hurts by Andrew Boe; A Condemnation of The Boxer and Related Materials; The Law Student (Discipulus Legis) Observed; and Medius Terra’ in The Brief Edition 1, 2024 — Through a Glass, Darkly.