couldn't make sense of it either.

any else struggling with the final sections of a paper for publication?

currently, the most pressurising thing for me is to start applying for post doc positions and i have no publications or a first draft of the thesis. am planning to have two publications and a first draft of the thesis by april so things are tight. its hard - and i emphathise. but what else can one do but get on with it. stop worrying about funding and cross that bridge when you get there. only make sure you have done as much as you could before your funding stops. it's not the end of the world if you're not funded. i agree with the rest - you can still finish.

am in the same fix. i wouldn't say that my motivation levels are low. i have decided just to finish the PhD and get my life back. am due to submit in Sept. i've got only one good chapter and two drafts of other chapters that need a lot of work. in total they are five chapters. i gave up an empirical approach and chose to change my research to a theoretical approach making the whole thing look like a lit review.

thanks. i'll try that.

hi guys. hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year. mine was great. back to work now - i seem to have forgotten some stuff.

am wondering, what is the name of the traditional style of footnotes in Endnote? like the ones you would have on word, but now using Endnote. thanks.

All the best Chris in whatever you chose to do. Clearly, some people have very dated perceptions of the legal profession. No one can stop you from choosing a legal career. Don't listen to naysayers. You can practice law just as well as any so called 'lawyers' out there. There are too many people who'll tell you how you're not good enough for law. That's just them displaying their own insecurities that a non-lawyer can actually know a thing or two about the law. You actually have a lot to offer the profession. It's no longer an elitist profession. Feel free to ask any further questions that you may have about how to go about everything. I'm happy to help.

suit yourself.

RogueAcademic - with all due respect, i think it is clear who is in England and who is not. It does not matter what you think the system is, what matters is what it is. All the best Chris.

As for finances, Chris - most law firms pay for your CPE. Most universities also have internal funding that you can apply for in addition to all the funding available from bodies such as the AHRC. You only need to do well in your masters to be eligible for this funding for your PhD.

In the UK, a lot of high-ranking universities admit students to the LLM without the Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB); Oxford, Cambridge, Durham to name a few. The LLB is also not a prerequisite to practicing law in the UK. Non-lawyers do the CPE to practice. All this info is on lawcareers.net. I think your previous replies would have made much more sense if you stated initially that you were talking about Australia. Here, it does not matter. A significant number of lecturers in UK law schools did not study law as their first degree. You only need to check the law school websites to see that. You will also find that this is also common in US law schools such as the Chicago law school and US leading law firms such as Shearman & Sterling.

my conclusion is that non-phd partners do not understand the demands of the PhD and they never will.

chris - you could teach undergraduaters media law. you undergrad degree would put you in a better position than the conventional LLB graduate to teach that course. meanwhile - have you tried applying for a training contract with law firms? it doesn't matter that your first degree is not in law and they pay for it. this course takes 2 years for non-lawyer, the first of which you spend converting your degree to a law degree and the next you sit the same exam as a law graduate. in the meantime you could try a paralegal or college teaching (that does not require pgce) job while you do your applications.

RogueAcademic - why do you always discourage people who are trying to do something in law? a bit of encouragement in the right direction could go a long way for a lot of people and it doesn't cost much.

which are the respected journals in law? by respected i mean peer reviewed - in criminal and business law areas or general legal theory.

am also doing a law phd. currently writing up. anyone else writing up?