Lawyer 2B shows A-level students the way
Most law firms say they want to attract more diverse bodies of trainees from outside the traditional talent pools, but the majority of diversity programmes still focus primarily on attracting university students.
The problem with this is that by the time firms come into contact with university students, a raft of potentially promising future lawyers will already have been cut out of the equation.
Which is where The Lawyer’s sister magazine Lawyer 2B comes in. For the second year running the publication organised a careers day for first-year A-level students taking part in the Government’s ‘Gifted and Talented’ programme, which encourages bright youngsters to apply for university through a series of workshops and mentoring schemes.
Top law firms, including Freshfields?Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters, were on hand to guide the students through a range of topics, including the structure of the legal profession and how to make successful applications.
Simmons & Simmons graduate recruitment adviser Sophie Binney, who gave a presentation at the event on how the City works, said it was important to arm promising students with the knowledge they needed to enter the profession before they apply for university.
“We’re very keen to make sure that we get the right graduates into the firm from a diverse background,” she said. “We want people from different socioeconomic backgrounds and it’s great to get involved with students this early on to make sure they start paying attention to their grades now.”
More than 300 students descended on Kaplan Law School over two days from 2 March to make sure that law was for them and to see if they too could follow in the footsteps of Barack Obama. (Sixty-eight per cent of the students said they aspired to be like the new US president, with only 6 per cent admitting they would most like to be Elle Woods from the film Legally Blonde.)
Student Marjan Jafari from Harrow College in Middlesex said the day gave her a great insight into what being a lawyer involved and what steps she needed to take to gain a training contract in the future.
“Students from wealthier backgrounds are more likely to succeed in their dreams of becoming a lawyer, but something like this gives us the information to compete with them,” said the 18-year-old.
Leslie Wilson, an A-level law teacher at Harrow College who took some of his class to the event, confirmed that many A-level students were unaware that what they were doing now would impact on their futures.
“This event allows firms to say, ‘This is how you can get through to working for us’, and that gives hope to the students,” he said. “Out there the general impression is that it’s an impossible field to succeed in, but something like this gives them real hope.”
Out of the students who attended the event, only 43 per cent said their parents had gone to university, so for many the world of higher education is an unknown quantity.
Couple this with the fact that getting a training contract depends on good A-level grades, an excellent degree and a CV bulging with pro bono work and vacation scheme placements, and some students just do not stand a chance.
Many of the youngsters at the event were about to start applying to universities to study law, without realising they could convert a non-law degree with a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL).
Seventeen-year-old Danielle Nash from St Charles Sixth Form College in West London said: “I was surprised to find out that you don’t need to study law to become a lawyer. It’s better because if you don’t actually want to study law you can study something that you enjoy and then get a really good grade.”
Of the students surveyed, 42 per cent said they were planning to apply to Oxbridge because they perceived it as a surefire way to secure a training contract.
Daniel Harris from Harrow College said: “I always thought that you had to go to Oxford or Cambridge to become a lawyer, but the law firms explained to us that you can go to a normal university and, as long as you do well, you can then go on to become a lawyer.”
Seventeen-year-old Alhasan Awad from St Charles College summed the event up perfectly.
“I was in the dark before because I didn’t know what route to take,” he said. “But now you realise how easy it could be if you just put in the effort.”
Other firms that took part in the event this year were Addleshaw Goddard, Bircham Dyson Bell, Clyde & Co, CMS Cameron McKenna. Hammonds, Mayer Brown and Norton Rose.
Why the Lawyer 2B careers day was needed
Husnara Begum, editor, Lawyer 2B
There is no denying that law firm graduate recruitment teams are taking diversity more seriously than ever before. Indeed, there appears to be no shortage of initiatives designed to help students from so-called ‘non-traditional backgrounds’ enter the profession.
The problem with many of these schemes, however, is that they are aimed at students who are already at university. For some state school students, this could be a case of too little, too late.
That is why it is crucial for aspiring lawyers to have access to specialist careers advice before they apply to university. In recognition of this, in September 2005 The Lawyer and Lawyer 2B launched an annual careers guide aimed at A-level students.
To supplement this, last year we also launched a careers day for around 200
Year-12 A-level students. Due to its success we decided to run another event this year,with Kaplan Law School hosting.
The careers day is designed to be both inspirational and aspirational. We want students who think a career in law is beyond their reach to walk away more determined. But we also want them to recognise the importance of securing stellar academic results and gaining work experience before starting university.
Although it should not be the case, which university a student attends continues to play a crucial role in determining whether they are able to enter the legal profession.
The careers day is open to all ‘Gifted and Talented’ Year 12 A-level students attending state schools and sixth-form colleges in Central and Greater London.
After much internal debate, we decided against inviting only ethnic minority students, because in our view diversity also encompasses class.
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Readers' comments (31)
Anonymous | 10-Mar-2009 4:25 pm
Don't kid yourself
Hellokitty and Blatantabuse are slightly deranged... There are a million and one different fields in law and what purpose does Roman Law or Property Law have for a capital markets lawyer?
The transferable skills learned doing other degrees apply equally well to a legal career, regardless of the actual subject matter, and 99% of what goes on during a law degree or GDL is completely irrelevant when you're in practice...
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Anonymous | 10-Mar-2009 4:29 pm
Why the anti-GDL feeling guys?
Why do some law graduates resent people coming to the subject a bit later so much? Surely if you like the subject you'll be happy for people to study it (even if it is in the less degree style GDL) - if you are committed and bright surely you'll find a training contract anyway, whatever your background? Surely even if it's not an advantage, it's not a disadvantage to do a LLB?
Also, I'm sure many of those who have studied an LLB have not gone into practice (most people I know in fact), just as I did a maths degree and (much as I loved it) didn't go into any of the fields typically associated with it. As I temped in different places, and realised my skills, I realised what I wanted to do. Not many people know exactly what they want to do at 18 and why should they?
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Anonymous | 10-Mar-2009 4:51 pm
I have a dream
Here's to the day when law is taught in primary schools and secondary schools across the land. Then one can know at the age of 16 with absolute certainty that they 'enjoy law'.
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Anonymous | 10-Mar-2009 4:59 pm
Hellokitty
Hellokitty said she "would kind of doubt how committed GDL types actually are." I did the GDL part time in the evenings while I also had a full time job, and have found that in general, legal employers viewed that as a demonstration of committment to a successful career in law rather that something that cast doubt on it.
And as for the comment "anyone who really wants to do law will do an LLB at 18", the assumption that everyone's circumstances will allow them to do that demonstrates just the sort of attitude that has limited diversity in law firms in the past.
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Anonymous | 10-Mar-2009 6:03 pm
There is a world outside the law
Blatantabuse's attitude is extraordinary to anyone outside the law. The rest of us know that there's more to life than law, so a university education can reasonably reflect other interests, saving the vocational aspect for later. Blatantabuse's approach is one reason why so many lawyers find it impossible to relate to, or even communicate with, non-lawyers.
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Tiger Woods | 10-Mar-2009 7:54 pm
What the hell's the LPC for?
If one was to follow the fussy logic of the two posters who have come out as so anti the GDL route then surely they, with their advanced LLB understanding, would trounce the poor GDL clowns on the LPC and henceforth proove their point.
Unfortunately for them this isn't the case: those who do the GDL achieve exactly the same results on the LPC as those who have done a 3 year law course. The fact is that law at Uni is pretty easy, the GDL isn't too tricky and if their was any disparity between the two our friends in HR would be smart enough to notice. I did the GDL route and will accept that a law degree has a greater breadth of experience but in practice the two routes have little to do with the actual 'job'. Now if you will excuse me I'm off to work on my swing- these golf course management essays don't write themselves you know!
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Anonymous | 11-Mar-2009 7:59 am
non-law first degree
Go to the US and do a JD. Then earn USD160K base plus USD30K bonus right out of school. You will get cost of living adjustment if you work outside the US of up to USD60-80K. All in this means USD270K for a fresh grad with a JD. Forget about the stupid GDL or a LLB, JD is the way to go and you'll get paid 3 to 4 times what pathetic trainees are being paid
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Nick | 11-Mar-2009 4:16 pm
Barristers are lawyers too!
As I understand it, the GDL is designed to give an overview of the key areas of the law quickly, whereas the LLB is designed for in-depth study and analysis. On this understanding, I would say that the LLB would be more beneficial to a future barrister, rather than a future solicitor. Barristers require the ability to gain a deep understanding of a particular area of the law; the policy considerations underlying legislation, the principles an aspect of tort law is based upon etc, very quickly, which is something, I would say, a solicitor doesn't have to deal with as frequently. Also (and I apologise if this is incorrect) jurisprudence is a subject of enormous importance to a barrister for the reasons above, and is not available on the GDL.
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Anonymous | 11-Mar-2009 4:22 pm
Re "Now Oxbridge need to reach out"
Re: "Now Oxbridge need to reach out
Date: 10-Mar-2009 @ 16:09
From: Anonymous"
What rubbish. School pupils who can't work out that you don't need to go to Oxbridge to study law surely aren't exactly what the profession is looking for... We all have the similar opportunities and people should not get special treatment.
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Anonymous | 11-Mar-2009 4:24 pm
LLB Route
Being a Second Year law student studying the LLB I am quite appalled at Tiger Woods' comments that reading law at universiy is 'pretty easy'. In comparison with my peers my degree is far more difficult and challenging, especially managing coursework, tutorial work and vac scheme applications simultaneously. I think it is offensive to all LLB students to say our degree is 'easy'. If it was perceived so by reputable law firms why would they not ask for a First Class Degree instead of a 2:1? Surely if the content is that easy and we all work hard a First should be manageable? I don't think so, not if you want to have a life. Really disrespectful of Tiger Woods.
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