Law bucks industry trends as grad vacancies rise
The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) eagerly awaited winter survey predicts that graduate vacancies in the legal sector are set to rise by 2 per cent compared with plummeting figures across all other industries.
The winter survey, which was published on 11 February, predicts that investment banking will be the biggest casualty. It will see a massive 28 per cent fall in graduate openings this year compared to an overall drop of 5.4 per cent.
Andrew Bonsall, who is studying law at Leeds University, is concerned that the legal sector will be flooded with graduates who would have previously gone into other industries.
If I were looking for a training contract at the moment I would be pretty miffed because there is going to be more competition for places, he said.
But not everyone is upset about the predicted increase in applications. Allen & Overys graduate recruitment partner Richard Hough claimed the rise would widen the talent pool for firms in time for when the economy picks up.
It's understandable that graduates are concerned by the current economic climate. However, businesses like ours need to recruit the best people, and so we will continue to look for high quality candidates. Graduate recruitment is a long-term investment, with a three to four-year lead time, and we need to ensure we have good people coming through when the markets pick up, said Hough.
Against this gloomy backdrop, recruiters surveyed by the AGR have warned this years cohort of graduates to research the employers and sectors they apply to more thoroughly than ever.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton graduate recruitment partner Andrew Shutter said: Its now, more than ever, incredibly important to research the firms youre applying to. You have to look at what firms did during the last recession because the firms that did make big job cuts back then will most probably make the most now.
The survey has also urged graduates not to automatically consider returning to university or taking a year out as the first alternative when the job search gets tough unless they believe it will add to their employability. Most said taking temporary paid work was preferable. But Shutter claimed that taking a job as a paralegal was counterproductive to students career aspirations and instead suggested they spend their time brushing up on skills that would help them in the future.
Taking a temporary job could look better on your CV than going back into academia. But going off to learn new languages or something like accountancy could be a good use of your time and could help you in your future career as a lawyer, argued Shutter.
For the first time in the AGR surveys history graduate salaries are
expected to be frozen by many employers. This years median starting salary
will remain stuck at 2008s figure of 25,000.
Last year law firms maintained the top spot with a median salary of 37,000
while investment banks remained static at 35,000. But 2009 is expected to
see some sectors slash pay with the banking industry expecting a median
salary decrease of up to 8.9 per cent.
Simon Pilcher, graduate recruitment partner at CMS Cameron McKenna, said: In the legal sector there have been quite considerable pay rises over the past few years so a freeze is something that you could expect.
As first reported on Monday (9 February) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is reversing its associate salary bands with all associates set to receive the same level of pay from May, despite gaining a year in post
qualification experience.
Many partners have claimed that because law firms recruit so far in advance it makes it impossible to crystal ball gaze in the legal sector.
But Pilcher expects that there will be a move to reduce vacancy numbers in the future. He said: I think US firms will start to reduce their numbers as well as some smaller firms.
Chief executive of the AGR Carl Gilleard has remained optimistic about the recession and its effect on graduate recruitment.
The situation is certainly not as severe as it could be. We saw a sharper decrease in 2003, for example, when recruiters had a negative reaction to the dot.com crash. By and large, while no one doubts the seriousness of the current economic downturn, the picture for graduate recruitment, though worrying, could be bleaker, said Gilleard.
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Readers' comments (16)
Jobless candidate | 11-Feb-2009 10:53 am
Highly competitive just got much, much harder
More news that the likelihood of me ever getting a training contract is a far flung dream. Given that my careers advisor told me last year that investment banking was the hardest industry to get into, closely followed by law there's an even greater possibility that the GDL incomers will diminish the LLB's value.
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concerned paralegal | 11-Feb-2009 12:17 pm
paralegalling
Why is a year spent paralegalling potentially detrimental to your CV? I thought this was a great way of getting legal exposure, a bit of money, and fills up a gap year perfectly. Am I wrong?
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Disgruntled | 11-Feb-2009 12:25 pm
Where do these facts come from?
How is the median salary for a law graduate as a trainee £37,000??? Of the top 50 law firms, only about 15 maximum pay over £37,000. Most of them are way down from that. And if you include figures from outside of London the figure is half of that again! I don't know where this rubbish statistic has come from but I have seen it bandied about like it was god given fact. It's not. It's rubbish.
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Trainee | 11-Feb-2009 1:48 pm
"Paralegalling"
I presume that Shutter's point is that your training contract should be what gives you the legal experience/training you require pre-qualification. Hence, if you already have a training contract your time could be better spent in a job that will give you skills that cannot be gained working as a paralegal.
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Anonymous | 11-Feb-2009 5:49 pm
Current Enraged Paralegal
I'm in the fortunate position to have secured a training contract in 2007 before the number of applicants shot up considerably. Having worked as a paralegal in an MC firm since June whilst waiting to start my TC I can say with some confidence that such work is great preparation for any training contract, at a similar sized firm or otherwise. I imagine that the level of responsibility varies from firm to firm, but as a paralegal I've had exposure to high-profile deals, had input at meetings, dealt with clients and handled some drafting. It also gives you an insight into the politics of the office environment and how to treat (and not to treat) your colleagues.
Granted these are all things I'll be doing when I start my TC in September but I fail to see how it can be described as 'counter-productive'? Shutter also fails to take into account the financial benefits of paralegalling. Having left both Uni and law school with considerable debt and an big dent in my overdraft, the £25k salary is certainly a lot more welcome than however much you could scape together 'learning a language'!
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Anonymous | 11-Feb-2009 7:58 pm
In reply to Jobless Candidate
Not quite sure how the GDL diminishes the LLB. Remember, you (usually) have to complete a degree before you can take the GDL (it's for graduates, after all). If you've been unsuccessful so far, perhaps you're aiming at the wrong sort of firms.
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Gavin | 11-Feb-2009 8:01 pm
Paralegal work
"But Shutter claimed that taking a job as a paralegal was counterproductive to students’ career aspirations and instead suggested they spend their time brushing up on skills that would help them in the future." What absolute nonsense, who can afford to do things like that after coming straight out of uni? Paralegal work is a way to show a real commitment to law, get some money and a good way to show you have the abilities to be a trainee. It can also give you an insight into what sort of firm you want to train with, quite important so you don't end up stuck in a sweatshop style firm.
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Too old (apparently) at 38 | 12-Feb-2009 9:01 am
Short term thinking
Perhaps the hoardes applying for training contracts might want to read the other news articles and think about their long term prospects in the profession.
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Sophie | 12-Feb-2009 9:53 am
Shutter is talking nonsense!
Shutter clearly hasn't got a clue about the role of a paralegal. Having completed electives on the LPC in Employment, Commercial Law and Private Acquisitions, I'm now working as a paralegal (before starting my training contract in March 2010) in the corporate department of a top 5 firm. Since starting I have handled every single corporate transaction possible and attended internal and external firm training on corporate law. Given that I'm going to a firm which has a corporate department, would Shutter consider the work I've done since leaving Law College 'counter-productive' given that I now understand and have experience of a far broader range of legal transactions??????
Maybe I should have dismissed the huge amount of debt I'm in, decided to have no exposure to law for a year (potentially forgetting everything I learnt in my law degree and on the LPC) and taken myself off to learn a language??? I think not.
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Lucy | 12-Feb-2009 10:49 am
Sour Grapes!
I wonder why the majority of people who complain about the GDL and LPC = LLB are those who currently don't have training contracts? Sour Grapes? If you're a competent enough candidate, with good grades who performs well at interview you'll get a TC regardless of the route you took. The fact of the matter is (as with the majority of graduate careers) some people just won't make the grade, and it'll have nothing to do with the tedious GDL v under-grad law debate!
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