In 2005 having decided finally to act upon a long standing desire to undertake further education, I enrolled on my first under graduate course with the Open University intending to study for a degree in a subject that I had long harboured an interest. 6 years of stressful part time study and full time work later, and having now graduated with that degree, I decided to put some of my experiences into writing. 

 

For me, returning to academic study was no impulsive decision, but was instead rooted in an idea that plagued me for a number of years. Beginning in my mid twenties, and having spent a few years in the Army and other jobs, I was a few years into my first long term career in interior retail design when I began to wonder whether I was capable of more. While the early years of this job were enjoyable, and having enjoyed swift promotion through the ranks to my final position as senior project manager, bolting on numerous skills in IT management, staff training, contract drafting, and a wealth of administrative experience, it became clear in 2004 that I had peaked in this career & could progress no further. Having gotten used to the personal & professional development experienced so far coupled with the fact that I was now pushing 30 and facing a do or die moment, this career rapidly became an intolerable dead end, and the attraction of further education & potentially a more worthwhile career crystallised.

 

One problem remained however. Over the preceding years whenever I considered further education, I always discounted the possibility on grounds of cost, security, lack of support & fear of the unknown. Essentially I couldn’t afford to quit work to go into full time study. A method of studying while working was therefore needed which would allow me to cover my costs without accruing crippling debts.

 

Why the Open University occurred to me as a suitable venue I can not now recall, but wherever the spark came from, in 2004 I finally took the plunge and requested a prospectus. Not expecting much (my memories of the OU were unduly prejudiced by memories of 1970’s era late night TV shows with messily bearded academics in tweed & tank-tops scribbling equations on blackboards, and what I thought was a creepy theme tune. I was heartened to find that the Open University was instead a modern organisation devoted to high quality distance learning presented through modern technology and media. I was also pleased to discover an exceptionally broad range of subjects; I could study what I wanted without too much financial hardship, and to the same standard as that offered by any other establishment.

 

The course choice was also not difficult; law had long interested and appealed to me on many levels, including a mixture of relishing the challenge, genuine interest, the odd over counter argument with certain large retailers over the minutiae of consumer rights, and through my experiences drafting contractual agreements through work. 

Additionally, following the ongoing wars in Afghanistan & Iraq post 2001, frequent news of alleged human rights abuses in Cuba and Abu Ghraib, along with increased homeland security, surveillance, and a corresponding erosion of civil rights at home, I found myself confronted every day with news stories on human rights issues which I began to take an avid interest in. In the end, law became the only subject to turn to.

 

Unfortunately however having missed the application date for the first law course at the time, W100, I decided to test the OU water with a couple of back to back openings courses in social studies and management through 2005 before W100 began in 2006. Both courses were simple & interesting consisting of a single thin manual, one CD, 3 assessments and nothing else. Both provided an excellent taster of OU distance learning, and boosted my confidence for W100 ahead. Unfortunately they also lulled me into a false sense of security, thinking that if one three month course consisted of a single skimpy manual, then a nine month course would logically be 3 skimpy manuals, maybe a couple of CD’s and pretty much a total doddle! 

The noise of me crashing down to earth could of course be heard towards the end of 2005 when my w100 course manuals arrived; ‘a peculiarly large & heavy box?’ I thought. Opening it I found 7 progressively thicker manuals, 2 sizable case readers, an assessment guide, 7 tutor marked assessments and an end of course exam, not to mention a CD and a glossary of terms full of Latin!! Horror!! How could I maintain the pace with this, work full time and have a home and social life?

 

About two weeks into studying W100, that question was well answered when I suffered my first ever migraine, a problem which would recur twice more in the early stages of my studies, and which was clearly a symptom of moving into a pattern of full time work and part time study while juggling family and social life, a stress level I was unused to, but which may be all too familiar to most working OU students. I admit, this circumstance was almost a deal breaker for my fledgling career as a mature student. However over a few weeks I found a workable (though marginally anti social) routine, and thankfully the flashing swirly lights never returned, despite the pressure steadily growing as I progressed through the levels of my degree.

 

As for W100 itself, I soon discovered despite early difficulties that I had an affinity with the material and subject; I quickly began to identify legal issues with everyday situations that I had never previously given thought to, reading news stories differently, picking things up previously missed. W100 also presented morally challenging subject matter which really changed my viewpoint on issues such as right to life, and I was beginning to approach issues from a much more objective standpoint, seeing arguments in many shades of grey rather than simple black and white. In the main, while the course was difficult (anyone who says otherwise either already knows the subject, or is a liar), it was highly enjoyable, and nine months later I achieved my first qualification, a Certificate in Legal Studies, an enormous confidence booster, and the first tangible indication that I had found my subject.

 

From W100, the path then led into W200, then W201, and two years later having waded through Criminal, EU, Contract, Tort, Administrative and Human Rights Law I was awarded a second qualification, the Diploma in English Law. From then until the end of 2011 having studied more Contract & Tort plus Trusts, Property, Employment and Business studies I finally completed my degree, very proud of the fact that I had made it, and even more so that I had achieved a first, something that in the beginning and largely throughout I had not considered possible given that I had no background in law prior to beginning with the subject in 2006. Since then I have been offered a place to study the Legal Practice Course in 2012.

 

However these experiences have not been without sacrifice. Indeed I have over the years neglected friends, family and other interests including playing guitar, which I deeply regret, but which were necessary sacrifices in pursuing this ambition. Conversely I have made many new friends through the OU and beyond, and I can still play a mean guitar, probably better now than ever before, even if no one but me ever hears it! 

 

An inescapable truth however is that OU studies can be isolating. Apart from occasional tutorials, exams and a couple of visits to a College of Law library, OU law students study from home. This is not ideal given that the subject is one necessitating discussion, debate and social interaction, activities taken for granted in residential universities. While the OU does provide online social and course specific forums, these only slightly bridge the social shortfall, particularly where moderation policies often do more to curb discussion for fear of exam cheating, sometimes restricting course or subject specific debate to almost nothing, promoting yearly course exoduses to Facebook.  Even face to face tutorials in my experience encourage little social contact, and despite exchanging email addresses with others, usually little contact is made or maintained. 

Turnover at tutorials can also be high, especially in the early years. New faces will appear, others disappear, a pattern which for me continued into the higher level courses where recurring faces became more consistent, but group numbers naturally shrunk to only a handful of regulars. Things were worse at year end exams when only two or three would appear from my group and for W301, I was the sole exam survivor with two others not even turning up. What happened to many of my fellow students, I do not know. What I do know however is that only a small percentage of OU Law students choose to interact with others, whether through choice or simply because they are unaware of how to contact others. The fact is there are thousands of us, yet only a few hundred join in with social forums and within that only a handful regularly contribute.   

 

OU study can therefore be a lonely experience, particularly if like me (for some inexplicable reason) you study English Law in Scotland. It is also an experience that necessitates personal sacrifice and a level of selfishness if you are to survive. It can feel like a great weight, one you could gladly cast off at times, particularly if you work full time in a high stress environment with little time for anything much less degree level study, which is essentially a part time job itself. 

 

However, OU law studies need not be this way. Students have the facilities to get in contact and to maintain ties. We have OU forums, we have Facebook, we have email, we have phones, Skype, chat facilities and a wealth of communications. Many of us will probably live close to others studying the same material. We also have this society, an independent venue for social and educational interaction which will hopefully continue to grow for the future, bringing OU law students and others closer together. There is therefore no need for OU law studies to be isolating. All we need do is take part, get out there, meet others, talk, contribute, support, interact and encourage others to do the same. The less lonely your experience as an OU student, the more positive your studies will be, and the more you will be likely to make it through to the end intact and in possession of many good friends, and of course that little piece of paper that says you made it and can now proceed to the next stage of your journey, which is of course…. to be continued… somewhere down the road.

 

See you there.

 

Mike Farrell, January 2012 

 

(Edited and updated for 2012 from an earlier version which appears on the authors blog, LawBlogOne, available at http://lawblogone.wordpress.com)

 

The proposed reforms are expected to affect hundreds of thousands of peoples’ access to free specialist legal help, which would be severely restricted in the areas of:

 

• Employment (other than in cases of discrimination); 

• Housing (unless the home is at immediate risk); 

• Immigration (other than detention cases); 

• Debt (unless the home is at immediate risk); 

• Welfare benefits; 

• Education; and 

• Consumer law advice.

 

Cutting legal help across these areas of scope is likely to cause untold damage across swathes of society who need help and support the most. It is likely to prevent true access, or indeed any access, to justice for anyone on a low income or in receipt of benefits if they have a problem which falls into one of the listed areas above. 

 

The impact of restricting free legal help may not seem too bad if you've got pots of money and a flash Ministerial post but if you are an unemployed victim of domestic abuse, with learning difficulties, huge debts and nowhere to turn for help then you might feel differently. You might feel the need to pop into a local advice agency to seek support, you might need to have things explained to you more than once, you might not be able to afford or cope with the intricacies of legal expenses insurance as the government proposals  would like and you might just find yourself in a right old pickle and with even more problems and greater vulnerability as a result.

 

In their infinite wisdom, the Ministry of Justice are proposing to slice and dice free specialist legal advice and representation, mix it all up in a big pot of telephone advice lines, legal expenses insurance and make-do generalist advice on the front line. They, in their ivory towers seem to think that people who have low earnings can somehow to afford to pay 30% of their income towards legal costs (this is before they start to think about paying their rent or mortgage and feeding themselves). Another option is apparently to purchase legal expenses insurance - I am yet to uncover the secret of how you can afford that when you are reliant on welfare benefits or the minimum wage.

 

The aim, according to the Government, is to reform the system in order to ensure access to public funding in those cases that most require it and to ensure the early resolution of disputes in order to avoid unnecessary conflict. Following developments and arguments on both sides of the debate it can be said, with some certainty, that these plans are either entirely out of touch with reality due to a lack of understanding; or there is an alternate political agenda.

 

I agree entirely with the Government assertion that legal recourse should be the last port of call rather than the first. Unfortunately, LASPO fails entirely to recognise that approach by denying public funding to people wishing to resolve their disputes at an early stage; instead only allowing funding to be accessed long after court proceedings are issued an example of this is the suggestion that debt cases should only be funded where the home is at immediate risk and an order for sale is sought. This seems a bizarre proposal from a Government which states it is keen to resolve issues before they reach a court room. It is my view that if you allow people legal assistance at an early stage in this sort of situation, it will probably never get as far as a court room. 

 

I wonder whether proper consideration has been given to why cases like these even get to court? It isn't, in my experience, because the individuals want them to, more often it is because the corporate bodies involved refuse to negotiate reasonably and insist on forcing the matter before a judge to protect their interests (and why shouldn't they make use of the legal redress freely available to them). Would it perhaps make sense to regulate this type of behaviour rather than remove access to a proper defence from those who are already under-privileged and often vulnerable?

 

The government has stated that it supports the simplification of the legal system but that these reforms are not dependent on those measures, it is my belief that they should be. The current system is not easy for lawyers to navigate after years of training and in the vast majority of cases it would be unthinkable for a lay person to navigate their way through the system successfully. I fear that the Government’s continued insistence that the legal system could be accessed by litigants in person as the norm may be somewhat misguided to say the least.

 

Whilst the Government claims to have considered carefully the impact of reforms on the more vulnerable members of society, it fails to appropriately acknowledge what vulnerability can amount to - instead restricting definitions to older people, those with disabilities and those experiencing traumatising circumstances in which the proceedings are being brought. Whilst I accept that there is no categorical statement that other vulnerability shouldn’t be taken into account, the failure to use the broadest of definitions clearly has dramatic and devastating implications for many genuinely vulnerable people, including those with physical and mental health issues and those subject to abuse. I am greatly concerned that the wider implications of these proposals have not been properly understood and I do not accept that the reforms will offer protection to those members of our society which need it the most.

 

The debate continues and it may be that a comfortable middle-ground can be found, though this is thought to be highly unlikely. The OU Law Society is an organisational member of Justice 4 All and their ongoing campaign against the Legal Aid reforms in their current form. 

 

Juliette Frangos (Communications Officer)

 

 

We urge all of our members to continue showing support for this important issue.

 

 

1.    Prioritize your course The likelihood is that your OU law course is a significant part of your life, either with regard to career advancement or for your own personal achievement. Recognise its importance. When you accept your course to be significant and part of a bigger picture it becomes easier to find the time to study and less of a chore to do so. When you make your studying a top priority in your life, it will be harder for you to find excuses not to do it.

 

2.    Timetable yourself Set realistic goals and stick to them. If you have a smart phone, download a free app such as Touch Goal or Way of Life so you can make defined objectives and keep a record of whether or not you meet them. If you are not meeting your goals, work out why and change your strategy. Do the recommended one unit a week - photocopy your module timetable and stick one on your wall, or keep one in your desk at work. I always try to start the course before the official start date to give myself extra time, but I always do a unit a week.

 

3.    Network Get involved with and talk to as many people as you can who are doing, or have done, your course. The OULS forum is a great place to do this. Being in touch with other students (past or present) can motivate, inspire and keep you on track when things get hard. Also, make sure you attend as many course seminars as possible - swap email addresses with people in your group and if possible set up a private study group. 

 

4.    Make the most of your tutor When you receive an eTMA back, read the comments - they are invaluable. Whilst studying, make a note of anything you are not sure of and after you have finished the unit email your tutor your list of queries for help - it is what they are there for. If you are able to attend a seminar in person, do so and raise your points there.  Alternatively, raise the topic in the forum for discussion. Don't just skim read and bypass the issue you are not sure of - this is a danger with distance learning. Make a list and get help.

 

5.     Read around the subject. Job seekers out there looking to commence a career in law will know of the buzz word, or rather buzz words, that are 'commercial awareness.' This little phrase is popping up everywhere and for many corporate firms forms a crucial part of the interview process. So get commercially aware. Keep abreast of business issues. Read the FT, the Times, the legal section of as many newspapers as you can. Subscribe to the Economist, or do as I do and download the app for iPhone which allows free viewing of the top articles in each issue.  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, where we often post news stories of general interest. Students who are not hoping to break into the legal profession will still benefit from reading around the subject. See our links section for some useful law websites. 

 

Sarah-Alexandra Ashworth (Social Co-ordinator)