This is the story of an attorney to be… I was once an overzealous student, getting very high marks at school and moving on to university, I was ready to conquer the world! I thought (for some reason that doing up to 14 modules per semester would be a joke – BIG MISTAKE) that anything was possible….
So in the year 2009 Ruhan decided to do a B.com LLB in 4 years instead of 5… The story of the modules I took is about to follow:
Computer Literacy 111:
Total waste of time really, since I can’t remember anything that they taught me that I didn’t know already. So ja I could have exempted it, but the fact is I was, I had pneumonia and couldn’t write the damn thing!
Information Literacy 121:
This one was more exciting! Had a blast of a time Facebooking in class! Enjoyed learning about how one can “Google incorrectly” too. Loved the fact that you could offer up 1 week of your holiday and exempt a whole semester in this subject!
No hablo español!!! Nada! Since I dropped it in September of that year, I got absolutely nothing for the most expensive waste of time that I’ve ever come across…. Other people enjoyed it… Not me!
Not doing accounting at school was a big mistake, but after I failed this module, I had to give up 10 days of my holiday and Mrs. Joynt, amazing woman came to my aid and I nearly had a distinction!
You know something’s up when a second-year accounting module is easier than one you do in first year! Long story short, I failed this subject too! Another 15 days of my precious holiday and yet another almost distinction sorted that out!
Business Management 114:
Oh how I hated this utter waste of my damn time!!! Did I not just spend 5 years of my life doing this module at school, just to repeat it all over a period of 5 months?!
Micro economics were never really my thing, but at least its easy and a tiny bit interesting!
I absolutely love macro economics, always have, always will, but damn this one was a true test of one’s capabilities! Love/hate relationship would be a sufficient description!
The module that made me believe in the third-time-lucky theory! Made my life a living hell, until June 2010, when at long last, I claimed victory!
Learning about Pastel… Enough said!
Law of Persons 110:
Except for the thick Afrikaans accent of the lecturer, which was more like speaking an indiscernible language which vaguely resembled a hybrid between Afrikaans and English, the course was a pretty good foundation course!
Introduction to Law 110:
I loved this subject! It taught us all the basic kinds of law and possible careers that could be followed! It also helped that it was really easy!
Introduction to Law 120:
Here we learned about murder and all kinds of crimes, but unfortunately AIDS (most boring topic on earth) was also included! Still easy though!
Legal Skills 110:
The module that makes you regret wanting to be a lawyer in the first place! Drafting all those heads of argument and summarising court cases and impossible semester tests… Fun! Fun! Fun!
Legal Skills 120:
Now this was where things started to make sense! Of course my love of legal latin and awesome closing argument in moot court helped my cause a great deal!
Family Law 110:
Interesting subject, bad exams! This was fun while it lasted, but luckily it’s over now! In/out of community of property can only be interesting for sooo long!
Family Law 120:
The second time I did this module, I had discovered the value of knowing court cases and it was a breeze! A breeze I tell you!
Historical Foundations of the South African Private Law 151:
Now here is an interesting LLB module, concerning the history of law in Rome mostly, but also in England and the Netherlands! Awesome module!
Historical Foundations of the South African Private Law 152:
This concerned property law in Roman times. I wasn’t keen on it at the time, but I sure am now!
Historical Foundations of the South African Private Law 120:
This was rather enjoyable, but it got old learning about contracts in their simplistic form during Roman times, but when we started doing delicts, it was fun, because it was hilarious! People giggling during the exam at least made the nerves calm down!
Legal Discourse 163:
This was a stupid module to say the least! Since I dropped Spanish, I had to do it in second year though! So simple! Like legal skills, but easier!
I managed to finally pass the previous module in stats after 3 tries, which led to me taking on this module, with little success and as a result I’m repeating this module in 3rd year!
This was not fun! (Accounting never is) I didn’t like it one bit, but at least it was the easiest accounting module to date!
Even less fun than any accounting that I had done up to that point, was this module! I loathed this module with a passion, but luckily with some intense studying for the exam, I managed to pass!
Financial Management 210:
I have always loved shares and learning about all kinds of financial instruments, which made this module a bit less of a burden, but having a supplementary exam the day after the soccer world cup final… BAD!!!
Financial Management 220:
Here we learned about all kinds of production methods and cost accounting… Man how I hated this module! BORING!
At long last, a worthy b.com module! I loved learning about taxation, since it’s pretty applicable to everyday life! Loved learning about gross income and fringe benefits and all those stuff, but this subject screwed me over during the exam, since I finished writing it at only 19:00 and had to write contracts at 8:00 the next morning!
Law of Contracts 210:
I liked this module quite a lot, since you mostly do the requirements of a contract to be valid for the whole semester and that is much more interesting than it seems! Case law NB!
Law of Contracts 220:
Apart from the lecturer being amazing, the module was not a lot of fun at all! Here issues of breach were addressed and not too much fun at all!
Law of Succession 211:
By far the easiest second-year module! Here one learns about the validity of wills… EASY! Quite interesting too!
Law of Succession 221:
Still really easy, easier in fact, but more interesting! Case law was really important yet again, but this module definitely has far less cases than 211! Trusts are really interesting!
Labour Law 210:
Let me put it out there… I HATE LABOUR LAW!!! I’d rather stick needles in my eyes than become a labour lawyer!
Specific Contracts 220:
Here we learned about the 5 most important contracts: Sale, Suretyship, Lease of a thing, Lease of a Sevice and Agency… Was fun for a bit, but having to study 77 court cases for an exam, not so nice!
Legal Interpretation 211:
Oh how I loved this module! I can’t begin to explain how interesting this was to study! Learning about the legislative process and all! Most people hated it, but not me! It most definitely ranks among my 5 favourite modules up to this point!
Legal Pluralism 210:
Yet another module I hate! It was interesting to learn about African culture, but that’s where it ended.
Human Rights 220:
The outlier…. I always love public law modules, but not this one! I was in a constant state of panic that I might just fail this shitty module! Nothing about this module was straight-forward!
Constitutional Law 210:
I have always been curious about how the different branches of government work and how they should be working! This course ranked as one of my favourites by far!
Constitutional Law 220:
Even more interesting than its predecessor… This course was awesome! It was a lot to learn, but if nothing else, it was also easier than the one that preceded it. Focusing on the legislative authority, provincial and local spheres of government was much more interesting than I had anticipated!
2011 – So Far
Disaster! I heavily underestimated this module and now I at least know what to expect next year! This is quite complicated! Oh and did I mention how I loathe this crap?!
I loved taxation 220, but that love clearly did not translate into a love for this module. It would appear that the type of tax in this module was not my cup of tea! Tax attorney? Scrap that idae!
Law of Things 310:
I never thought that I would be able to fall in love with property law, but it’s now apparent that this type of law is exactly what I love! Love this module, even though it has an extremely high failing rate!
Insolvency Law 310:
Also a rather interesting field of law and by far the easiest module that I have in third year! Hope it ends as well as it started! I don’t know if I have the heart to practice this kind of law though!
Law of Evidence 311:
This is one of the most applicable modules that I’ve had so far and not too bad to study either! For the first time since I started studying law, I feel as though I am becoming an attorney!
Legal Practice 311:
Yet again, a really applicable module! I love learning about the profession, since let’s face it, one day I will have to know how to be a lawyer!
Legal Philosophy 311:
There aren’t enough words in the English language to describe the loathe that I feel towards this module!!! I don’t wish to know about the opinions of others, which are form some reason considered as matters of fact!
I realise that the only people that would be interested in what I think about the modules that I’ve taken would be – nobody! I just wrote this for the sake of trying to remember what I loved and hated and why… If you make it this far, you cannot possibly leave, without dropping a comment! Congratulations! You win nothing!