We have lots of students tell us that they hate maths and that they’re no good at it. If that’s you then pause just a minute…. stay with us here. The bad news is that if you want to become a professional lawyer you certainly do need to have a basic level of numeracy. It would be a dreadful idea to tell an employer that you’re hopeless at maths and a very good idea to get yourself upskilled while you’re studying law.
Why?
Well let’s just think of some examples of when a practising lawyer might need maths.
- Calculating interest on any money claim.
- Working out tax due – perhaps in relation to managing the estate of someone who has died.
- Providing clients with detailed information about the likely costs of their matters including details of disbursements they might accrue and the percentage of their costs they might recover in a range of different scenarios.
- Calculating payments due to employees in a situations like wrongful or unfair dismissal or redundancy.
- Understanding a company’s financial position by analysing its accounts.
These are just a few thoughts but there’s already a common theme. You need to be able to add and subtract and thoroughly understand percentages. Feeling a bit rusty? You might find that your university offers free maths classes- you could sign up. Another option is to go and buy yourself a basic GCSE revision guide and work through it. You might be surprised at how quickly you can gain confidence.
Don’t leave this too late. Maths tests can be part of the recruitment process for law firms too. Some will ask you to do numeracy tests. (Don’t get someone else to do this for you – it would be fraud and there’s a good chance you’d be found out – for example what if you’re asked to repeat the test in the office at the final selection stage?) Your maths might also be tested pre-appointment in case study papers where you do have to be able to read, understand and comment on company accounts. You’ll find that some of our revision guides help you too – there are walk-through explanations for example on how to calculate tax in several guides. Don’t ignore those sections!