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看到现在这么多同学对法律有兴趣, 心里着实高兴, 也希望在新西兰的未来, 多出一些华人律师, 真心为华人做些事情, 当然同时也多赚些钱, 呵呵...
好了, 言归正转.
1. 简单大学介绍.
在新西兰要读法律, 有5所大学,分别是Auckland, Waikato, Otago, Canteburry, Victoria.
各所大学的法律法律系风格不同, 譬如Waikato 在Maori customary law 和Treaty 相关法律比较着重. Auckland 在Commercial Law也不错, Otago 综合实力都可以还有criminal 有不少别人没有的学科可以修, Victoria 的public law 在新西兰无人能及, 在法学界的大人物(Geforrey Palmer, David Langi, Richardson P, Keith J, Lord Cooke of Thordon)都是出此学院, 对Lord Cooke 我个人有深厚的感情, 曾经短暂的在他身边做过Research Assistant, 对他的为人, 对法律的创新立易, 大胆,佩服的五体投地. 曾经做过我的老师, 对我来说, 他一辈子都是我心目中最崇高的人, 最近去世了, 心里非常难过, 不说了, 再说下去可能要哭了........
2. 对比
对法学院的好坏要客观判断比较困难, 我主观认为, 考虑的因素有, 学院的师资力量(通常很多人比的是Havard, Cambridge, Oxford)背景的老师的多少. 这个各位找一下没个大学网站, 在法律系老师介绍栏可以找到. 进第二年的难度; 五所大学有四所进二年纪需要平均分在B+ to A-之间, 窍门我在后面会说的; 毕业后大公司的录取率, 新西兰有七大律师事物所, 分别是Russel Mcveagh, Simpson Grierson, Buddle Finnlay, Chappman Tripp, Minter Ellison, Bell Gully, 最后一个我也不确定, 应该是kenshenton Swan or Philp Fox? 这些公司是法律毕业生梦寐以求的工作岗位, 就和商课毕业进投资银行差不多. 有幸在其中一家短暂工作过, 受益匪浅.
3. 法律学位的一些简单诀窍和流程
这个是对同学们做参考作用, 不是要你来偷懒的, 不然就算你最后能读出来对你未来也没有多少好处.
很多在奥大的同学发现进第二年很难, 竞争很大, 是不是? 其实有无考虑其他大学的法律系呢? 也许你的平均分在奥大不行, 别的大学正好今年报的人少, 那么就可能录取你.首先小小暗示一下, 新西兰有一所法学院, 读法律重头到尾是不需要竞争的, 及格就可以顺利升级, 连申请也不是非常困难. 虽然这所大学的法律系在我们法律界"非常"的被看不起, 以前的同学和同事说起它都哧之以鼻, 而且毕业后要进大律师事务所也几乎没什么可能. 不过要是你的目标只是卖卖房地产, 在华人圈子里混个温饱, 那也没什么关系, 大不了还可以打个广告说自己"敢于挑战法律, 伸张正义"什么的, 呵呵....
话又说回来, 奥大进第二年实际上也没那么难. 为什么? 和有的大学比起来, 奥大是用第一年所有的平均分来进第二年, 有的大学是只凭法律学科的平均分来决定. 哪个简单哪个难一看便知. 用平均分有个好处, 就是选择选修科的好坏可以决定你第二年的命运. 很多人都问, 是不是选择Stats 108, logics, 等的学科, 呵呵....如果你破斧沉舟的话,那么.......你的最好选择是什么? Yes! BA - Chinese major first year..在这里说说自己的丑事, 第一个学期学习不怎么努力, 又交女朋友, 所以平均分只有勉强B+, 所以选了一门300 level 的Chinese paper, 最后拿了A+把成绩拉了上来. 当时老师还因为我亚洲人面孔说我是Chinese 不能学, 后来还好因为说英文kiwi 口音比较重, 说自己不会中文混了过去, 先在想想有点惭愧. 如果你没办法实在要选的话, 你可以选择100level chinese , 更简单, 现在那个把关的老师也走了, 不会再刁难了.
其实, 如果只是想做拿个法律文凭, 哪家法学院都没差别, 关键还是在自己, 不是吗?
4.律师系统的结构
法律毕业其实并不是都做律师的, 在新西兰, Hearld 前段时间统计, 有50%以上的法律毕业生最后都不是在法律相关行业工作. 不过要做律师, 我在这里简单介绍一下. 首先, 不用说, 你需要4年的degree, 其中包括compulsory papers such as landlaw, trust, ethics 等等. 然后, 你需要读professional course, 国外叫Bar Test, 在这里, 只要读完就可以了, 考试不难, 教一些实际的运用, 譬如房地产买卖等等.
在读完后, 你就可以像高等法院申请入籍了, this is the process of admission. 过程不难, 不过需要不少东西, 大学的letter of character, move from a solicitor, relevant certificates, etc. 在入籍后, 别太高兴, you're not barrister and solicitor of the high court yet. During that stage, you are only to be called the "officer of the Court" to which your power of attorney is merely confined as "signing of witness", essentially you are able to function pretty much like a JP.
在通过两年以上的律师事务所经验, 那时候, 你就可以申请practicing certificate了. 然后, 你也可以大大方方的在名片上印有Barrister and Solictr of the high court 的头衔了. 所以, 没有practicing certicate, 不能说自己是律师.
很多人问我, what's the difference between a solicitor and a barrister? To put this question aside quickly, solicitors are officers to the Court but barristers are not. In New Zealand, the fusion is not huge as soclitiors are normally enrolled with the title of barrister at the same time during the process of admission. In turn, this means that not only a soliciotr is eligible to prepare court documents, he or she is capable of actual court work, such as conducting a trial or proper litigations, regardless of his or her abilitites to do so.
A barrister sole is someone who choose to practice litigations and court related work only, this means that he or she would not be able to accept a case without prior instruction through a solicitor. Normally a barrister sole has enormous litigation experiences so that one is able to practice in a chamber alone. The title QC stands for Queens Consellor (皇家大律师), this title is normally given to Barrister soles who acquire significant amount of glories in terms of number of trials conducted and reputation earned. However, the title QC is no longer viable in NZ as it is replaced by the title SC, meaning senior consellor.
5. 读法律的一些个人见解
简单来说, 法律学业需要四年的时间来完成. 主要包括必修课和选修课两种. 必修课基本上有(100 level laws, statute law, case law, legal system 200 and 300 level laws such as contract, torts, crimes, public, property/land, trust, ethics) 每所大学的学位结构不一样, 所以名称也许会有小的差别. 大致是这些, 而这些科目直接由NZ council of legal education 监督, 所以要求比较高, 不及格的比例也比选修课要高. (两年前曾经参加过一个 对这些必修课改革的会议, 做为旁听者的我, 听到有位权威人士说新西兰的律师太多了,400万人口光注册律师就8000-10000之间, 特别是property lawyers, 所以有必要增加难度, 在一年纪之上限制律师的数量, 和澳洲的教育体系看齐)
至于选修课, 每所大学提供的重点都不一样. 在通过二年纪后就应该好好考虑怎么样选择这个问题了. 不过学科虽然有易, 大方向还是那么几个, 譬如commercial law, family law, public law, criminal law, international law,等) 最好着重选择一到两个相关的major, 对未来是很有帮助的. 有些辅助性的学分也很有用处, 譬如evidence, civil/criminal procedures, disputes resolution, mediation, negoitation, etc.
至于法律这东西到底难不难, 我想这个问题因人而易. 我觉得后天的发奋固然重要, 先天的逻辑能力也必然不可少. 我个人觉得法律不难, 学习是非常有技巧的. 在我四年法律生涯中, 娱乐,朋友, 运动都没有耽误,原因就是掌握了学习法律的规律. 其实说简单很简单, 法律考试也就两个模式, Essay + Case analysis. 譬如Essay, 给你个题目让你critically discuss or give your opinion on the truthfulness of this statement. 而Case的话通常给你一些虚构人物, 他们之间又发生了多多少少的联系, then the quesiton may ask you to advice one of the characters should him or her to become your client. 这里我拿problem question 举个例子.
Once you have read the problem, you would roughly have an idea of all the characters of this particular problem and the relationship exists among them, that you should ask yourself all the following questions, such as
1). what exactly is it your client want? an injunction, damages, or specific performances? (Issue)
2). What are the cause of actions may you plead should this case go to court, is it breach of contract, misrepresentation, negligence or equitable actions you are relying here? (Cause of actions)
3). Do you have the necessary elements of this particular cause of action you are pleading. (Stating the law and facts here to make your factual analysis and do it for every cause of actions, e.g. for breach of contract you would go through the basic elements such as offer, acceptance, consideration, etc. Do remember to bring up the cases for analogy so that your arguements are powerful.
4) What are the defences that the other side may bring to counter your argument, and to make counter arguments of anticipatory defences. (this is important because the marker wants to see that you are aware of the factors which may influence the strength of your case. For example, if you are arguing that an offer does exist on the basis of Carlil vs Carbolic Smoking Balls, the counsel for the other party may argue that that case was not of unanimity being that the 3 judges differed on the extent of the actual offer, and your case may reflect such differences in the same way as your client's offer was limited to the same extent, that the offer cannot be made to cover
5) Are there any other public policy reasons to hinder or improve your case? (For example, Carlil is decided over 100 years ago therefore the circumstances of modern society does not assimilate this sort of approach for reasons of practicality and commercial practices that the Courts should not have intended to uphold the same sort of anology)
6) Formulate your conclusion to the likelihood of winning the case.
Enough exmaples here, above is just giving you a taste of what the law is about and by choosing to do a law degree this is the sort of things you encoutner on a daily frequency.
6.非律师工作
实际上, 不是每个学法律的人都一定想做律师的, 法律学位在其他行业找工作其实很容易的. 譬如说, 在政府有很多policy analyst 的工作需要法律背景. 在银行, IRD 可以做investigator, 在大公司也可以有很多发展, 譬如contractor, executives, underwriter...
还有如journalist, researcher, 等等. 所以, 做律师也未必是最好的选择, 大多数人看到的只是他们的hourly rate, 却看不到无数小时的加班,压力, 风险, 用生命的缩短来换取金钱 的回报到底是否值得, 这个问题我也没有办法回答.
有问题可以在下面问我, 我很乐意帮大家回答相关问题.
[ 本帖最后由 宇姬咨询 于 2007-12-1 23:30 编辑 ] |
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发表于 2007-12-1 13:23:56
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