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Legal education’s oversupply is unethical

While I agree with the general thrust of the article that there are problems in the legal training sector, it makes several incorrect assumptions: 1. All undergraduate law students want to be lawyers. An undergrad law degree prepares you for all kinds of things (unlike an undergrad medical degree). I have friends who did law degrees with no intention of becoming lawyers and are very happy as senior civil servants or journalists. I don't see why LLB places need to be cut as there are plenty of careers one can go into after such a degree. 2. The existence of 15,000 LPC places means there are 15,000 LPC graduates per year. If all LPC providers filled their classes to capacity, there would indeed be 15K students per year, but the same Law Society figures quoted by the author show this is not the case. Further, not all students on the course will pass. I seem to remember seeing figures that the actual number of LPC graduates was less than 10,000. This is still more than the number of training contracts available, but the odds are not quite as grim as the author claims. (Unlike the odds for would-be barristers, which are shocking.)

4-May-2011

11:45 am