CAN WORKING STUDENTS SURVIVE LAW SCHOOL?

To answer the question right of the bat, OF COURSE THEY CAN!

This is my tribute to all working students who toiled their way in surviving law school while also going to the usual "8-5pm" work routine. I have my utmost respect to you guys! Kudos!

I am fortunate to have a supportive Mom who pays for my tuition fees in Law School, gives me my weekly allowance and all of my daily needs and wants. (Thanks Ma, you're the best!)

There were times that I realized that I am privileged to able to enroll in Law School without ever spending a single centavo out of my own pocket. That my only job is to study hard so that all the hardwork of my mother in paying for all my law school expenses will be all worth it.

Allow me to share my story when I became a "legitimate" working student for the first time.

Last June 27, 2016, I had my first experience being a "legitimate employee".  It was my first time to sign up for membership for PhilHealth, SSS and Pag-ibig. Moreover, it was also my first time to sign an employment contract with contract stipulations regarding probationary status, regularization, leaves among others; my previous work experiences were only mostly project-based, only good for 2-3 months.

Being a working student is new to me, so when the readers of my blog would ask if a working student can survive law school, I would tell a story about my friends and acquaintances who are living testament that a working student could thrive and survive Law School. Before, I don't have a personal knowledge regarding the matter. However, that all changed.

As I only have 7 subjects left in order to graduate in Law School, I decided to look for a job.

I applied in a law firm in Makati named Marisol Caneja and Associates Law Office. The firm specializes in corporate law. All of its clients are foreign companies which were established in Malaysia and Singapore. Those companies would like to expand their operations here in the Philippines and avail of the benefits of being a registered enterprise in the Philippine Economic Zone (PEZA)

Fortunately, there was a vacancy in the Firm and it doesn't hurt that the owner of the Law Office is an alumna of my Law School Organization in San Beda. In short, I was hired.

PREPARING FOR CLASS RECITATIONS AND EXAMS

Two of the common struggles of a working student is how to prepare for the daily class recitations and how to study during examination week.

The first few months were tough because I am not used to going to office at 9 am and I have barely enough time to prepare for the class recitations. Luckily, my boss, Atty. Marisol Caneja, is kind enough to allows the working students to leave the office 3 hours before our scheduled class to have time to travel to school and prepare for class.

The travel to Alabang from Makati is not that hard because of the Point-to-point (P2P) Bus Service from Greenbelt 1 to Alabang Town Center. My travel time from Makati to San Beda Alabang takes about 30-45 minutes.

The arrangement in the office is so favorable to working students like me. I am fortunate that the firm measures the performance of their employees through the quality of their output. The philosophy of our boss is that what's the use of an employee who goes to work from 9am to 6pm if his work output is poor.

I have friends who work in call centers; they go straight to work after attending classes. I admire them because they only take short naps to catch up the necessary sleeping hours. They study for about 30-40 minutes in the Library and they take a short nap afterwards.

Those short naps will be shorten or even negated when there is Examination week. I have friends who only had 1 hour of sleep just to try to finish all their backlogs. They don't take work leaves because they only have at least 5 of those every year.

Here again lies a big difference from my employer to the other employers; our Boss is kind enough for us to take work leaves for the entire week for us to have enough time to prepare for the exams. The best thing is those leaves are not charged to our 5 work leaves allotted to us every year.

Maybe I am not the best person to share how working students can excel in Law school despite their busy schedules but I would like to share the Valedictory Speech of Carlos Hernandez from UP College of Law.

He works from 7 am to 4 pm and reads his reading assignments inside the MRT, Jeepney and other public commute (That's what you call dedication!) He is truly an inspiration; his speech also shares the experiences of his friends and blockmates in Law School who were also working students.

Another prominent working Law Student is Kenneth Manuel, the one behind the famous "Your Lawyer Says" Account in Social Media. He is a Certified Public Accountant and has a day job at the same time is enrolled as a full-time student in UST Faculty of Civil Law. Being a working student did not deter him from excelling in class as he is a consistent Dean's Lister in Law.

He once posted using the Your Lawyer Says that studying in Law School would be more fun if it is without the financial pressure. He added that the students whose tuition fees are paid by their parents are lucky and privileged.

Those are a few of the success stories in Law school regarding working students who survived Law School. I am sure you there are a lot of them in Law school. Law students who came from different walks in life but united by the same dream and that is to become a lawyer.

So if you are planning to enroll in law school but is thinking twice on whether you can manage to work and study at the same, the answer is, YES.

YES YOU CAN.