Illegitimate Code

Today, I met someone else who is taking law out of personal interest and not for monetary reasons – a medical doctor with an MBA who has no passion for medicine. Although I’m not quite in the same boat, it is good to know that there are others who are doing law out of love and interest.

Personally, I like law a lot but I love engineering.

My type of personality thrives on beating a system, any system. As an engineer, I get to hack solutions to many convoluted problems. However, I often bump up against legal issues that I lack the expertise to handle. Hopefully, getting this law degree will help me hack better solutions.

While I am doing this for fun, I do intend to take this seriously. Honestly, I have to if I do not intend to squander all my hard-earned savings away. I intend to take five law modules this year, covering Tort, Contract, Islamic, Constitutional and the Malaysian Legal System.

My plan is to study all the topics by May and to work towards the exams in August. This means that I have about a month for each module. Looking at the reading list, I don’t think that I’ll be able to squeeze in any more Banks, Bear, Gibson, Reynolds, or Stephenson next year.

(A million voices just cried out in pain)

PS: Fortunately, I’ll be able to fully claim my tax deductions on books and fees for the next few years!

To be honest, I signed up for the Bachelors of Jurisprudence programme at University of Malaya without an inkling of what it entailed. I did it simply because I felt like it was the right thing to do.

So, I was in for a bit of a surprise.

I took a peek into the auditorium this morning and saw a room full of all sorts. The B.Juris programme is an external programme for, largely, working adults with commitments and families. There were people from all walks of life there, including some who came with their kids in tow.

This is the first time that I am in a situation where the students were not really students and it was quite interesting. Seen from a different angle, this is another interesting opportunity to network.

Personally, I’m hoping to have some fun while learning law. It’s also useful to have some friends whom you can call from the police lock-up.

PS: I think that I might be one of the only people in the room who has no interest in becoming a lawyer of some sort, which seems silly considering the amount of money that I’ll be spending on the programme.