Law Graduates Should Limit Themselves Only to Lawyering Profession
The annual event of Days of Law Career (DOLC) was held again on 19 to 23 February 2018. This year DOLC took the theme of “reach out the opportunity” to provide an overview to the students and alumni of the Faculty of Law Universitas Indonesia (FHUI) for a career in the world of law professions as well as a platform for employment for law firms, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and other public sector jobs. Opportunities for students and alumni were open as much as possible to apply for jobs both for full-time work and internship.
Among law firms involved in the job fair in DOLC 2018 were Assegaf Hamzah & Partners (AHP), Sumadipraja & Taher (S&T), Lubis Ganie & Surowidjojo (LGS), Ginting & Reksodiputro, Rahayu & Partners, Ali Budiarjo Nugroho & Reksodiputro ( ABNR), Soewito Suhardiman Eddhymurthy Kardono (SSEK), Nurjadin Sumono Mulyadi & Partners (NSMP), Widyawan & Partners, Hadiputranto Hadinoto & Partners (HHP), Bahar & Partners, Hanafiah Ponggawa & Partners, Armand Yapsunto Muharamsyah & Partner, Hiswara Bunjamin & Tanjung.
Not only cooperating with a number of law firms, this year’s DOLC also invited the Ombudsman, Bawaslu, Vrije University, Leiden University, Hukumonline, Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), The Indonesian Capital Market Institute (TICMI), Erasmus, Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat), Mawar Saron Legal Aid Institute and Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK).
One of the interesting things in this DOLC activity was that students and alumni of FHUI were encouraged to join various aspects of legal employment in the public sector, not just limiting interest in the private sector such as working in corporations ( legal corporate ) and working in law firms. Especially nowadays incentives in employment in the public sector are also promising, so FHUI students need to expand their choice of employment.
“FHUI alumni should be more involved in the public sector”, said Ahmad Fikri Assegaf ( Founding Partner of AHP) to ILUNI FHUI representative Choky Ramadhan when giving a speech at the opening of DOLC 2018 on Monday (19/2).
Vice Dean of FHUI Ismala Dewi added that the step to explore the public sector should also be considered by FHUI students, so that they would not only limit themselves to lawyering profession. Ismala also expressed her appreciation to FHUI alumni because this year around 80 FHUI alumni passed the judge candidate selection. According to her, this is a good step for students to start expanding to various public sectors.
Ismala also advised all students and alumni of FHUI to pay attention to integrity. “Follow the philosophy of fish in the sea, even if the sea is salty, but the fish does not become salty because of the sea water,” said Ismala.
One of the prosecutors who was an alumnus of FHUI, Gatot Tri Rahmanto, expressed his hope that students and alumni of FHUI should also be interested in working in the government sector. However, the distribution of the interest of alumni and FHUI students should be proportional. In addition to being a prosecutor and lawyer, said Gatot, students can also work for NGOs, government agencies or become lecturers.
“If all FHUI graduates work in law firms then who will be defended? Conversely, if all work as a prosecutor who will defend them, ” said Gatot.
In contrast, Danu Ega, an alumnus of FHUI who previously worked as a lawyer at Meli Darsa & Co law office, currently works as a lecturer at LSPR and ESMOD. He suggested for students or alumni of FHUI who want to have the freedom to change career to choose job in private sector. It was because jobs in the government or as civil servants, such as judges or prosecutors will be tied to the state, making it more difficult to switch jobs.
Danu did not deny that not everyone in the early year of career gets a dream job, so it’s fine if new graduates move around in their first year.
“As long as his obligations in his previous work have been well settled, the learning he wants to get in his previous job is considered sufficient and the good relationship with the previous office is maintained,” said Danu.
Another FHUI alumnus, Yohan Misero who currently works at LBH Masyarakat gave tips to the talk show audience that alumni of FHUI must know exactly what interests they want to fight for before choosing a job.
“When we know whose interests we stand for, then naturally we will realize that justice is subjective so we will be led to find the job we want,” said Yohan.
