Francesca Giulia Ciuchini

© photo by francesca giulia ciuchini

In the busy and complicated life of a law student or, let us say, professional, multidisciplinarity cannot be relegated to a simple and abstract concept to blatantly praise in public but basically disregard in practice.

Especially when faced with the many adversities that every young graduate has to tackle, the capacity to address not only one’s field of study, but each and every one of those competencies that are actually needed to solve a certain problem becomes even more important to prove to society that us, the “new generation”, are grown individuals capable to overcome any issue.

But this is not even merely a question of proving our worth to a society that has undoubtedly become more and more demanding. Rather, it is a pressing need that goes beyond the simple “ethical duty”, encompassing the real essence of a world that is increasingly connected both physically and virtually.

The theme of multidisciplinarity, nowadays, is in the limelight because the rapid interconnections between individuals, which were made possible by the surprisingly fast development of technology and internet, entailed real, concrete issues to emerge with greater force.

It is, indeed, quite obvious that the employment of competences coming from different fields of work is the best response to the fact that the entire world is faceted itself, with each and every aspect of life being inescapably intertwined with another, and then another one, and another one.

The same, of course, can be said of every profession. In fact, a single area of expertise will never be able to suffice by itself, much like an isolated monad; rather, in order to reach their goals and meet the public’s demands, professionals will have to consider all the additional variables constituted by the relations of their careers with different professions and backgrounds.

With regards to my personal experience provided for by the wide and diversified reality of a course of study in Law, the first impression of the average student is, certainly, awe and a little bit of apprehension in dealing with such a huge amount of knowledge.

A knowledge that not only is quite broad in the area of law itself, but most importantly stretches out to graze matters such as economy, philosophy, history or politics. For a law scholar, this is, without any doubt, the first experience of what it means to be a professional nowadays, and of the great importance of taking into due consideration every other discipline in the light of their radical connection to law-making and judging.

Law itself, I believe, is one of the greatest examples of multidisciplinarity: its true aim is, in fact, to bring order to chaos, in a yearning for regulation that invests each aspect of everyday life: from legislation governing architecture and engineering, to rules on the boundaries of science and bioethics, to regulations protecting pieces of art and monuments, up to laws limiting the legal order itself, that is, meta-law in its purest form. Much like architects develop their projects, engineers erect their buildings, artists create their pieces, the subject of law is permeated by creative energy and strives to seek perfection and structure.

However, in order to do so, legal experts needed and will always need all the help they can get from those professionals competent in the area they intend to regulate. As a matter of fact, it is only from the dialogue between people coming from all the academic walks of life that a true and complete vision of the world will be able to stem.

As I mentioned before, a law student soon learns the great importance of developing an open mindset and a positive attitude towards every field of knowledge; he, or she, is pushed to come across and experience each aspect of the subject as a part of a whole.

In fact, as a scholar, once you have taken the Criminal Law exam, you will not be considered a criminal lawyer: on the other hand, you will be even more conscious of the fact that your criminal law background will not be complete without a deep knowledge of criminal procedure, civil law, business law.

And the more you go deeper into the topic, the more you realize that criminal law itself stretches way beyond simple legal subjects, reaching issues such M.E.’s reports, forensic ballistics, legal informatics, expert assessments voiced by the most competent professionals.

The same applies to any other legal subject studied in university, making it possible even for the junior freshman to get a first impression of the profound complexity of the professional environment.

An impression that not only will not weaken in time, but will rather endure and grow stronger when entering the working world as a European under-35 professional.

Any young prosecutor, judge or attorney knows quite well that a landmark of their job is the interaction with other specialists. May they be the medical examiner in charge of assessing the conditions of the victim or the offender, the engineer responsible of verifying whether a certain building is at risk of collapse, or the interpreter tasked with the assistance of a foreign defendant or witness.

Without that connection and that untiring exchange of ideas, the entire basis of the legal profession would crumble and fall. That is, I dare say, the notion of multidisciplinarity at its best: every professional should address their career with a multidisciplinary mindset simply because without that approach their entire profession would be reduced to an empty shell, devoid of a fundamental intake of bonds and interchange.

Lastly, how can multidisciplinarity help us, young professionals, to survive and stay afloat in a world that seems to seek more and more effort from us each day? And what can we do to safeguard and protect it?

Firstly, meeting and speaking to several young specialists from all over Europe reminds us that we are not alone in this path; that, as hard as it can get, there will be people who share our same experiences and can understand us and give us advice; in conclusion, that this dialogue and connections could not only offer precious professional advices and multidisciplinary exchange, but could also shape the world of tomorrow, creating a new and revolutionary movement free of geographical, virtual and ideological boundaries.