Noelle m.

So the cat is out of the bag – I did law school. A secret I kept from many people in my life, including my family. I didn’t tell them for three months with some I told after six months. I was planning to keep it a secret till I was ready to reveal it to the world. It seems I have a direction now, so I think I am ready.

I commenced full-time study straight after graduating my dual degree of Nursing and Midwifery in 2022, and I graduated my Bachelor of Laws yesterday on the 29th October 2024.

Within that time, I did my graduate year as a nurse and midwife, doing an 0.8 workload with lots of overtime at an obstetric and surgical ward. Life was hectic. For instance, I would do three night shifts in a row and have an assessment due the day I finish my last night shift.

I always volunteered to take overtime shifts regardless of deadlines because I empathised that my co-workers are busy working mothers. I know it’s not my obligation, but I was aware and took ownership of that.

In hindsight, I did too much and burned out. Running on five hours sleep everyday, my sleep schedule was always disrupted by shift work and staying up late doing assessments. It didn’t help that between trimesters, I would only have two weeks break. It felt like my life was snowballing.

A persistent thought in my head till now was, “why am I studying law?” I could be doing information technology, business, healthcare management or my masters of nursing. Other professions would have a better work-life balance than lawyers.

Funnily enough, I only answered this question on my graduation day. As I looked back on my journey, I recollected whatever narrative compelled me to study, These narratives are:

• (1) my co-workers shared their struggles working as a nurse and midwife while having a family, and some wish they got to spend more time with their kids. While nursing and midwifery is my passion, these insights resulted in me thinking of doing a different career path;
• (2) my ex who studied law would bring me to university law events and showed me his assessments and exams. I was intrigued by the problem-solving and legal writing;
• (3) my patients and co-workers would tell me stories of their family members or someone they knew who specialised in medical negligence. If not medical negligence, one had a family member studying law working with medical indemnity as a paralegal, another had a barrister as a son, and the list goes on. These patients would light up whenever they talked about their family member working in the legal profession, and it was always entertaining to listen to;
• (4) I have always excelled in writing essays and I have an affinity for writing, so I thought this career path was more suited to me.

Despite these narratives, I was still feeling discouraged to pursue the degree because I was aware my personality is not suited to the role. I’m quiet and non-confrontational. I’m also a spontaneous feeler with lots of random ideas. It wasn’t easy to overcome this fear that I would be deemed incompetent because I can’t express myself as logically as other people.

As daunting as it was to make the decision, I realised that even if I don’t become a solicitor or use my degree, the knowledge and skills of studying law are transferable to other professions. I decided to trial it for a trimester without telling anyone, so at least if it didn’t work out, only I would know.

We all know now how that went.

Trimester after trimester, doing it all within two years, I could not stop. It’s like running a marathon – “you are already running 10 km so why not do more.” Of course, at the end of it, your legs are giving in, your body is cramping and you’re physically and mentally exhausted. But when you see the finish line, that adrenaline rush kicks in as you quicken your pace till you complete it.

It might be just me, but I previously thought marathons were people taking their time and running slowly. It turns out, these people are running five minutes or less per kilometre. So quintessentially, yes, my degree was like running a marathon.

At the end of it all, with some time and distance, I found it more important to look back. As the story unfolded, I thought about the hours I put into my work day-by-day and all the training I did, thinking about what I did well and what I can do better in the future. I thought about how I persevered despite the anguish and suffering, and finally, feeling the sense of accomplishment that I could do what I set my mind to do.

I’ve learned the reason why I studied law was actually quite simple. It was because I enjoyed the complexities of legal reasoning applied to different facts and scenarios. Whatever I learned in the two years, I’m glad I gave it a try.

I hope that my story is one that inspires people to have the courage to pursue what you think is right for you even if it is a little daunting, and to keep your hopes and dreams close to your chest.

Moving forward, I will keep being a nurse and midwife because it is my passion! So I plan and hope to gain my practical legal training qualification while working as a midwife.

The rest is a secret!

Thank you to my family and friends for supporting me with their endless love. Thank you for maintaining confidentiality about my endeavours. Thank you to my Grandmother, Mamang, for flying from Philippines to Perth to Brisbane for coming to my graduation! Thanks for all your kind words and wishes. Much love 💜

(Featuring sashimi and seafood boil celebration).

Photography session at Japanese Gardens!