Law IV - Faces of Life

I watched a school-based play titled Law IV - Faces of Life on Friday evening. It is a play depicting the lives of individuals through law school, the poignant phases that characterizes the law school experience, and a commentary featuring some of the issues that affects the law school community.

The play begins with a brief introduction to the phases preceding law school. As like any other Singaporeans, the typical law school student is streamed through the gruels of the education system, from the PSLE, to the O'levels, then to the A'levels. And then, he or she scores well with a number of distinctions, but finds himself or herself bereft of the leadership qualities requisite for the public service commission scholarship. And so, he or she makes the choice between NUS medicine, or NUS law, the euphemistic dumping grounds for Public Scholarship Commission rejects.

Next, we are introduced to the characters. The male protagonist, Able, wishing for an easy life with a good-paying career that will help him settle down in life, and preferring to do law instead of medicine. The female protagonist, Belle, forced by her lawyer parents to do a law degree instead of pursuing her passion in music. Chuan, the vernacular Singaporean-accented heartland kid from a low socioeconomic class, seeking to scale up the social mobility ladder from the opportunity provided from being accepted into law school. A token minority character, Faizal, with a rags to riches of a story to tell of a school academic failure in his high school days making his way into law school and later succeeding to become the dean of the law school. Germaine, a girl with the drive for success, but unpopular socially.

We are taken through the various rites of passages that characterizes the law school experience at NUS. There is the law school interview. Those accepted are initiated via orientation and an event known as rag and dance, and matriculated by helping out with a flag day event. Law school starts proper with the LAWR (Legal analysis and writing research) module, and which culminates with a moot at the end of the first year.

There is friendship. There is romance. Able and Belle hits it off while collecting on the flag day event.

There are trials. Chuan studies hard to the expense of neglecting his ageing mother. Germaine suffers a panic attack and botches up her moot she had been so extensively preparing for. There is lost in perspective. Germaine goes berserk and lashes out at Faizal, her mooting partner.     

But all well that ends well. They all graduate. Able decides to move into social activism after a few years in a law career. On the other hand, Belle decides to settle in the legal fraternity and work it out to partner at the firm. Chuan, the heartland kid, makes it big at dispute resolution. Dawn, a side character, moves into marketing at a company, accepting her limitations at not being competent at law. Germaine ends up a pair with Faizal, and the wedding bells resounds for Able and Belle. Confetti pops, curtains drop.

The phase of life, captured in a 90 minutes play. Now if life were a stage, and all men and women merely players, where do each of us fit?

I guess my blog here allows me to tell my story. I scored well with a few distinction at the A'levels from a middle-band junior college (St Andrew's Junior College). I applied and was rejected for a Public Service Commission scholarship. Had the idea of pursuing a degree in economics, but was cajoled by my parents to choose either medicine or law. Didn't like medicine, so I chose to do law. Failed the first attempt to get into law school, but succeeded in the second attempt. Socially inept and unpopular, and estranged from the law school social circles. Had the ambition to succeed in law school and make it into academia. But as reality would have it, am generally inept at law studies.

Thinking about it, I kind of bear certain descriptions from the various characters depicted in the play. Like the female protagonist, a certain initial degree of reluctance to do law. Like the male protagonist, an unexplained aversion towards doing medicine in preference of law. Like Chuan, an underdog who seeks to make a name for himself amongst his peers who hail from the elite junior colleges. Like Germaine, the desire to compensate for a lack of social popularity with academic success. Like Dawn, reckoning with personal limitations and ruminating about a career outside of law.

Well, everybody's got a story to tell. So there you go, a snapshot of myself and of my experience so far in law school.