You may recognize Negar from her fantastic blog posts here! Recently, I had the pleasure of chatting with Negar to get her two cents on law school and life as a law student in general. This was so much fun – Negar has such a great sense of humour, and great perspective. You should definitely read on!
Q: What is the best or worse piece of advice you received while in law school?
A: Lawyers give advice because it’s their job. Law students give advice because they can. And because they frankly love it. (Some of them even write blogs full of it). So I’ve been given a literally immeasurable amount of advice.
Best Advice: Learn how to manage your time.
Law school is a demanding endeavour: lots of academic work plus a ton of extracurricular opportunities and events. And your life and its obligations don’t magically stop when you start law school. So, managing your time and prioritizing your goals is key.
Worst Advice: You don’t need to do readings until second term.
Worst. Advice. Ever. Do your readings and prepare well for December exams. You will most definitely be glad you did when April rolls around.
Q: What did you think was the most challenging aspect of law school?
A: Training my mind to think in a legal way. Regardless of your background– sciences, humanities, arts, business—your mind has probably been trained to see problems and think about them in a particular way. Like any other field, the law has its own set of tools and ways of thinking which a law student must learn, and it takes time and effort. I should mention while this was challenging, it was by far the most interesting and enjoyable aspect of law school for me.
Q: What surprised you most about law school or the legal profession?
A: The variety of work that lawyers do surprised me. I have no lawyers in my family, and previous to my decision to attend law school, I didn’t know many personally. When I started to meet lawyers as part of my decision making process to attend law school and then throughout first year, I was always surprised by the variety of work they do.
Q: Where do you like to study?
A: I love studying at home because I have easy access to tea and blankets, and of course Allard Hall is an immaculate study space. But UBC is a treasure trove of study spaces. I like Keorner Library stacks for focused, uber-quiet studying, Buchanan Cafe, the Rose Garden for reading on sunny days, the Scarfe building, and the Starbucks on the Engineering side of campus.
Q: What’s your favorite food/restaurant in Vancouver?
I love food! Persian food has to take the number one spot on the favourite list. But the list is very long. Some old and new favourite restaurants are East is East, Hy’s Steakhouse, Hakhamanesh, Abattoir, Sandbar, Sushi Town and True Confections.
Q: What are 3 things you need to survive at law school or in Vancouver?
Law school: my laptop, my calendar (both planner and smartphone versions), caffeine.
Vancouver: my umbrella, sushi, my car.
Q: Words of wisdom?
Take every piece of advice with at least a grain but preferably a half-pound of salt.