Exploring the World of Law through Illuminate Universe

by Katherine L.

Illuminate Universe Learning Experience 

I have recently received the wonderful opportunity to engage in my very own Leadership Project at Illuminate Universe! The “Illuminate: World of Law” work-integrated learning experience was eye-opening and incredibly educational for someone like me who is an aspiring lawyer and current highschool student. Covered in the learning experience was everything from an introduction to the categories of law to procedures, ethics, and current trends. Below is my Thought Leadership Inspirational Blog and reviews of the learning experience: 

Strengths of the Learning Experience

The learning experience at Illuminate covers Comparative legal systems which examines the laws and practices of different countries. The learning experience presented by Illuminate Universe is in particular helpful as it breaks down the legal system in depth while making it easy to understand. For example, the learning experience delves into the branches of law: 

1. Constitutional Law: The idea that the authority exerted by a government has its limits. I learned that this branch of law emphasizes equality and maintains standards and regulations when it comes to the government. I believe this branch of law is definitely more democracy influenced and think it is important to ensure the government is held to a set of rules as well in order to prevent unequal ruling or abuse of power. 

2. Criminal Law:  Type of law which focuses on proving whether a person is guilty of committing a crime, leading to varied sentences of punishment should there be a conviction of guilt. I learned that the conviction process depends on two main factors: the actus reus (guilty act) and actus rea (guilty mind). The actus reus is the physical act of the crime while the actus rea is the mental state or intent which motivated the crime to be carried out. The prosecution for Criminal Law thus depends on being able to convict a person for these two factors beyond a reasonable doubt. 

3. Civil Law: This branch of law touches upon legal agreements between different parties and is controlled by common law, statuses, and contract law principles. The types of situations this includes involve business transactions, sales, leases, and negotiable instruments. 

Furthermore, Illuminate fosters a diverse environment and encourages students to explore a variety of interests instead of simply covering the mainstream traditional roads. In the learning experience, less common roads of law are introduced to us: 

• Business and Corporate Law: Dealing with the legal structures of businesses, their operations, and activities. The types of businesses falling under this legal category include partnerships, single proprietorships, and corporations to name a few. The main focuses of Business and Corporate Law include dealing with: 

• Mergers: a combination of two companies into one 

• Acquisition: when one company is purchased by another, most often through stock purchase or asset sale

•  Intellectual Property Law: 

• Copyright and Trademarks: Authorships and art, musical, and literary creations fall under the category of those whose works require protection by copyrighting. Something I learned was the fact that the copyright lasts for the author’s lifespan and an additional 70 years after that. Trademarks such as logos, symbols, slogans, or names also need copyright protection. I really appreciate how this Illuminate learning experience also covers the legal rights and protections for an assortment of careers, such as copyrighting and creators. It’s great to see the arts and humanities shown as being equally important as things like businesses and companies in the legal world. 

• Patents and Trade Secrets: Provides the protection to designs, machines, and processes while giving the inventors the rights for new inventions. Additionally, I learned a very interesting fact about formulas and recipes which are also eligible for legal protection.

• Environmental Law:  Touches upon the sustainability and preservation of natural sites, resources, and ecosystems. Conservation processes include pollution control, sustainable practices (energy, agriculture, construction, waste). Advocacy for environmental preservation is also practiced by encouraging business and industries to adopt sustainable practices. Incorporating these points into the learning experience spreads awareness on these matters and prompts future career pathways for students.  Additionally, something included in the learning experience that made me incredibly glad was the information on paths to legal practice and legal education and training, covering everything from basic education requirements to specialized law school programs.  Educational requirements: Needs the completion of a bachelor's degree from any field and an admission to an official law school for a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. The duration of law school will typically last for three years.  Bar Admission: After completion of law school, you will need to pass the bar exam in order to obtain your license. This bar exam varies by state or country.  Judiciary and Legal Academia: 

• Judiciary Careers: Becoming a judge and serving in federal, state, or administrative courts where you will be involved in trials, interpreting laws, and delivering verdicts. This pathway requires a lot of experience and may take some time to reach this level as you will need to be appointed or elected. 

• Legal Academia: Obtaining a law degree doesn’t mean you are restricted to pathways that involve you being in the courthouse. Teaching law at universities and law schools, conducting research and writing scholarly articles, participating in conferences, etc, are all viable options.

• Non-traditional Legal Roles: Legal consultants, compliance officers, mediators and arbitrators, legal analysts and government policy advisors are the possible routes for those who are not interested in traditional legal work. This was very enlightening for me to read about since I want to become a lawyer but at the same time, I am not particularly interested in traditional pathways that involve court hearings and trials. Thus, learning about these non-traditional career possibilities was very engaging and encouraging for me.

3 Key Takeaways from the Learning Experience 

1. Awareness: The learning experience touches upon many subjects regarding global, social, and community issues, as well as upcoming developments and changes in the law field and legal processes. As a lawyer, it is not only important to be aware of these conflicts and the legal system impacts, but to also be aware of yourself, where you stand, what you want to gain and what you wish to contribute to any situation in the field. 

2. Responsibility and Ethics: Upholding ethics when practicing law is crucial to ensuring proper justice and order is served and maintained. Furthermore, any mistakes made as a lawyer should be held accountable, along with other responsibilities that the lawyer is in charge of. Both responsibilities and morals are some of the most important areas of being a lawyer and the power that comes with it. 

3. Modern developments and advancements in law: The learning experience brings to light the impact modern tech has had on the law field. Not only are there now more and more online legal practices such as virtual courtrooms, virtual consultations, smart contracts, e-signatures, etc, but there are technological advanced research tools such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). No matter where you currently stand on these topics, there is no doubt that technology will play a significant part in the future when it comes to the legal field and it would be beneficial to learn about these technologies and how they can alter, hinder, or benefit you and your legal process.  

Encouragement of Positivity, Resilience, and Personal Growth through Illuminate’s Learning Experience

This learning experience emphasizes the importance of being aware of social issues and international relations, encouraging students to become more vocal and informed on past and current social conflicts. This support of minority groups and social issues leads to spreading resilience and growth while integrating students further into their community. The inclusion of social issues made the entire learning experience feel very updated on current word conflicts/problems, and the modern trends in law. I found this to be very refreshing because incorporating modern references made the entire learning experience feel much more real to me, informative, and also personal. The information presented is able to be felt on a deeper level which made it more motivating for me as I was able to see the learning experience as knowledge that was able to be used to my benefit. Diversity and community are some of the things that Illuminate Universe offers and emphasizes in both their learning opportunities and environment, and this was something I felt clearly through their learning experience on non-traditional law career roles. Once again, it was refreshing to see various and lesser-known pathways being explored instead of the usual traditional options I see everywhere else concerning law. It makes the whole prospect of this being a future career much less stressful and more entertaining. 

Personally Gained Knowledge and Reflection 

As someone who has an interest in pursuing a potential career in law, this Illuminate learning experience was incredibly interesting and insightful as it taught me an abundance of new information. I was always interested in becoming a lawyer but I never decided on a specific type of law I wanted to practice. Before this learning experience, I hadn’t even known about many of these different types of laws, let alone know how many there were. Personally, I am interested in Business and Corporate Law or Real Estate Law. 

Not only that but it gave me the chance to reflect on connecting this information to who I am personally, ultimately allowing me to decide which parts of law are suitable for me and whether it will be a good career choice for me. As a Community Leader, this learning experience supports my leadership journey as it highlights the strengths of my role as a leader, such as my skills of initiative, responsibility, and communication. This specific learning experience stresses the importance of these skills such as how responsibility falls into maintaining ethics as a lawyer. 

Tips and Advice for a Future in Law 

1. Get to know yourself: It’s incredibly beneficial to really self-reflect, probe, and explore your personal goals, ambitions, values, and skills. This will be helpful in deciding on which subsection or type of law is most suitable for you based on the above and your own preferences. Delving into topics such as personal values will also help in deciding what issue you are most passionate about and willing to stand for, as well as the style of law you might want to practice. Learning about the law field through Illuminate has provoked a lot of self-reflection on my part, and made me evaluate my desires, intent, and goals for pursuing a future in law when presented with all this new information. 

2. Be aware of the world around you: Those who are interested in pursuing a career in law should be kept updated on current social issues (and what impact they have on society), as well as being informed when it comes to technology and online law procedures. This is especially true with the impact technology has been making on modern law practices, something that will be even more prevalent in future years. Covering the current world issues really made me more aware about social changes, topics, and encouraged me to be more aware of following issues from now on. It has also made me more aware on what information needs to be spread to others

3. Interpersonal skills and self-development: Lastly, develop interpersonal skills, network, and gain hands-on experience and reach for every opportunity possible. Challenging yourself to get out of your comfort zone will help develop your skills, confidence, and self-discovery journey, all of which are helpful skills to have as a lawyer. The more experience you have, the more you will be able to stand out on your resume when applying for a job in the legal field. Having more experiences under your belt proves you are capable and have the will and skills to take on any work that comes your way. 
   

Final Thoughts and Self-Reflection 

I learned a lot about the legal system and practices in an interesting way which I easily absorbed. Being educated on the different branches of law and niches of its study has opened my eyes to the many potential paths I could take in the future and has motivated me even more in pursuing law as a career path now that I know there are many possible paths that cover a variety of interesting and diverse topics. This learning experience prompted me to view the legal field from a broader perspective by educating me on the impact new tech such as AI has, the duties and responsibilities that comes with being a lawyer, and the future of law practice among many others. Finally, I feel more prepared than before when it comes to thinking of my potential future as a lawyer since the learning experience has informed me on the steps to take in order to become a lawyer and advance in my education.