fatbob how far are you into your PhD and what was the path that led you to focus on contempt of court?

I get the impression that there aren't that many around these parts.

I'm assuming that there will always be proportionately more science-related PhDers out there due to the nature of scientific career progression where the top jobs only go to those with PhDs. Not necessarily so, for law grads.

I think you two are bordering on creationist nuttery. Can we stick to a scientific evidence-based chicken-n-egg discussion please.

Sharna Jackson - I may be wrong but I believe in your chosen field, a masters degree is the standard, not the PhD (unless you're specifically looking for a career in academia or public policy / govt area).

Look, the Egg McMuffin is only available in the mornings before 10:30am and the McChicken burger only after 10:30am. It's NEVER the other way round. Case closed.

Why am I not surprised you're the paranoid type.

http://www.acrossthepond.net/

Apologies. In Australia you must either have completed an honours year (which is considered an undergraduate year even though it's research-based) or a masters by research. There is no avenue for a direct entry into a PhD without this two.

In order to qualify for a PhD, don't you normally have to have completed an honours year or a masters degree? This intermediary step to a PhD should give you all the basic experience you need to undertake PhD-level work.

Wait a minute.. this is a postgrad forum, when you say you're in first year are you talking about being in first year of your LLM or PhD?

You can't possibly do an LLM degree without having done an LLB beforehand. The masters degree you are likely to be doing is probably a specialist masters for non-law graduates, which means it has a specific focus on one area of the law. What area is it?

Teaching at the law faculty, as far as I know, is mostly taught by academics with law degrees (ie. LLB or JD) unless you have extensive experience in a particular area of the law already. If you want to teach law as a non-law graduate, alternative areas you could go into would be teaching business law to business students, or as a patent/trademarks attorney to future patent/trademarks attorneys, or perhaps you've spent some time working with a particular area of the law (eg. human rights) and can speak extensively from your practical experience. These are just a few examples of course.

In that case it's hard to publish in law-related publications so soon into your law degree unless you already have professional experience in a particular area of the law prior to beginning your law degree. I believe you really need to go through the breadth and depth of your law studies before gaining basic legal experience and understanding to write at the standard required for a law review journal.

Woops, didn't notice that you said you're in first year.

Do you have professional experience in a particular policy area prior to beginning your law studies? How far are you into your law degree? If you're early in your law studies, you probably won't be looking to publish in law review journals. You could try writing articles for legal newsletters published by your nearest law institute.

Or, look at writing case notes for publication in law reviews, for the latest significant court cases, or book reviews.

FYI - an Australian government report into the doctoral students' experience and an analysis into the doctoral degree structures. Amongst other things the report discusses, I found this relatively small paragraph in the executive summary interesting:

"The large majority of students are positive about their doctoral programs. For some however the experience is at best neutral or mildly disappointing and for a small number fairly traumatic. Twelve per cent of students interviewed expressed dissatisfaction with their supervision experiences and five per cent had serious grievances."

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/publications_resources/other_publications/the_doctoral_education_experience.htm