Interview with Alexandro Cea - Chile
Tell us about your path
I started studying law at the Pontifica Universidad Católica de Valparaíso in 2008, a degree in which I managed quite easily. I never failed any subject and I was a teaching assistant for the Roman Law chair and the Economic Law chair for several years. I was also an assistant on an international research project linked to Roman Law through which we organized various research projects and conferences, including an international course for which I got to travel to Spain. Today I have graduated from the degree, close to graduating.
What motivated you to study Law?
During my time at school I chose a profile very close to science and by default very far from the humanities. When I finished high school I had a fairly complete vision and understanding of the material world and of the human person biologically considered, but my knowledge regarding the functioning of society and of human beings acting in community was very limited. I saw in the Law degree the possibility of filling that gap, since understanding how the interrelations between people and human organizations are regulated consequently leads to understanding how society as a whole functions. That is what I was looking for.
In addition, one of the factors that motivated me most to study Law is the flexibility allowed by practicing the career. That is, by qualifying as a lawyer the range of professional activities to choose from is really wide, since it is possible to work as an academic in universities, develop in study centers, collaborate with and lead foundations, advise and lead companies, dedicate yourself to politics and a long etcetera in addition to practicing the career as such. The possibility of not having to do the same thing all my life after graduating but being able to move between different areas of social life was decisive when deciding what to study.
Did you study at a public or private University?
In Chile public does not stand in opposition to private. Here there are state-owned universities and privately-owned universities, the latter being non-profit foundations or corporations. Both, state and private alike, can fulfill a public function. In Chile any student who cannot pay for university can study for free at them through state scholarships or internal scholarships from the universities themselves or, failing that, through a Crédito con Aval del Estado (CAE) that must be repaid with an interest rate subsidized by the state at 2% and never paying more than 10% of their salary once they start working.
In my case I studied at a private university that legally is a non-profit foundation. Since I could not pay for it I studied financed through the CAE.
What subject was hardest for you when studying Law?
In general I did not find the degree particularly difficult, nor any subject in particular. Perhaps because the subjects that are normally considered the hardest, like Roman Law or Philosophy of Law on one hand or Economic, Commercial or Tax Law on the other, were subjects that for me were among the most interesting.
What do you think is most important to succeed in Law?
It is hard to be a genius studying Law. At least in undergrad. I always did very well, but I have to admit that it was not because of my intellectual brilliance since in the degree whether we like it or not the fundamental pillar for moving forward is simply memorizing. That means dedicating the necessary hours to studying, using a good methodology to outline and synthesize the knowledge one must learn. The key to that is nothing other than being systematic.
Even consistency can take a back seat. I was not consistent. I took part in a huge number of extracurricular and extra-program activities that disrupted my schedules and prevented constant, routine studying. But that disorder was not really such, because behind it there was a very organized agenda, with very schematized time. That I think is the key. At least for me it was.
It is worth mentioning that it is different once you leave undergrad, with the legal system already memorized in your brain. From there on, what you do with that to succeed starts to matter much more, and also other variables that allow you to stand out in the job market like soft skills and language proficiency.
Would you say you chose a career that allows you to travel the world?
That depends. Personally yes, because I intend to pursue an academic career and in this field there are many excuses to travel, from opportunities to do postgraduate studies abroad to a later career in which you can constantly take part in international seminars, courses or conferences.
But it depends, because the Law degree allows you to work in a fairly wide range of professional activities. Some with more opportunities to travel (such as academia, diplomacy or professional practice in large law firms or large companies) and others with fewer opportunities to travel (such as public administration or independent practice of the career). In any case, despite the high competition due to the fact that each year an exponentially greater number of lawyers graduate, Law is still a very profitable degree so there is always the additional possibility of traveling privately.
Is learning other languages important for practicing Law?
Again it depends due to the wide spectrum of professional activities in which one can work.
It may be that for the independent practice of the career, academia or public administration it is not as relevant as it is for working in large law firms or in the legal departments of large companies, where handling one or two additional languages is essential. At those levels this point can easily make the difference between being hired or not.
In any case, considering that the number of lawyers who graduate each year is growing and that Chile in general is a country where little English is spoken, being proficient in at least this language is a very valuable tool for setting yourself apart with added value compared to your fellow colleagues.
How does studying law help society?
Studying Law is not limited to studying the laws issued by the parliament of a given country, but means studying the rules and structures of both human behavior and the interrelationships that occur between people. And even above all that, it means studying the rules and operating structure of society as a whole. If understood in this way, one understands that being a Law student is like being an Engineering student, but just as or more valuable because what we make work is society itself. Of course, engineers are the ones who build a Congress (as a building), but it is lawyers who study, create and supervise the legal mechanisms that make it function properly in essence; in that part that precisely makes the same building finally be a company, a municipality or a foundation.
How do you think the Internet and new technologies affected Law?
A lot! And it will keep being affected more and more. In Chile notaries are starting to take a back seat with the implementation of the advanced electronic signature for digital documents. A signature made from a personal computer on a PDF document is today full proof in court, which makes it possible to generate a change from the very foundations of how the national legal system works. For example, this year the electronic processing of cases in courts of justice came into effect, which allows the filing of lawsuits or briefs, the service of notifications or the reading of court rulings from the comfort of the lawyer's dashboard. No more printed files, no more loss of documents, no more having to physically travel to the courts to carry out procedures. This speeds up processes allowing for more expeditious justice at a lower cost for citizens, and it also makes practicing the career of lawyer a much more pleasant activity.
What advice could you give to a person who is thinking about studying Law? Is it a degree with a future?
Definitely. However it must be a choice made with vocation and/or purpose. Studying Law is hard and often boring. Of course there are exciting moments and subjects, but in general that is not so common. Very rarely did I feel the passion I felt when studying chemistry, physics or biology at school when I was studying Law at university. If the vocation is not the study of Law and neither is there a purpose for what one intends to do in life by studying it, it is better to carefully review what the true vocation is (what you enjoy studying) and the true purpose (what you intend to do with what you study in life) before choosing; far beyond what statistics and probabilities say about what you may earn financially upon graduating.
Someone passionate and excellent at what they do will be successful and have a great future in whatever degree, not only in Law; but also someone who studies without passion will easily be overtaken by others in whatever degree, even in Law, regardless of whether that degree statistically is a degree with a lot of “future”.
Young people ask us about job prospects. Did it take you a lot to get a job? How did you manage it?
I have not started working yet, so I cannot answer from experience. What I can say is that I do not think it will be hard for me because there are many fields in which I could work, having built some career during my undergraduate studies in many of those fields. For example: academically I have been a teaching assistant, in nonprofit organizations I have been regional coordinator of a major foundation in Chile, in the leadership of sports organizations I have founded a mountain club of which I am president, in politics I have been a student politics leader and I have been part of the founding of a new political party in Chile; etc. That is, during the degree itself I have been building a career either as a volunteer or in paid work in one way or another as part of my extracurricular activities outside the University. That path already traveled greatly facilitates the chances of finding work upon graduating, at least much more than those an undergraduate who only devoted himself to studying may have and who graduates into an unknown world in which he has no friends, experience or contacts.
What characteristics should someone who wants to work in the field and have a successful career have?
The key is being able to stand out. There are many different ways to do that and for that it is not necessary to be the best in the class in grades or anything like that. It is possible to specialize and deepen knowledge in a given area, it is possible to learn soft skills like public speaking and leadership, it is possible to generate contacts through developing multiple activities throughout the degree, etc. The only important thing I think is not to be just one more of the crowd who seeks to study and nothing more to try to get good grades and nothing more. Once you graduate from the degree whoever wants to hire you (or whoever you want to hire you) assumes that you already know law since for a reason you already finished the degree. The question that person will ask you is: what other additional thing can you contribute?
About annual salaries and compensation, in what range would a Law Professional with 5 years of experience be?
From 30,000 to 25,000 US Dollars.
Alexandro Cea
