Money makes the law go around

It feels as if financial concerns and economic considerations have never been more pressing, nor more ubiquitous - whether it's talk of starting your postgrad studies without a job lined up at the end of it, the removal of the minimum trainee salary (due to kick in next year), frozen salaries or just general global economic uncertainty. Now more than ever you must give serious attention to the financial implications of your dream job - your ability to afford the courses and potentially low starting wage must be a factor in deciding whether to pursue law as a career.

In the past, the necessary expenditure related to study always seemed worth it long term, as you were likely to be entering a profession that was well remunerated. However, the road to qualification is no longer as affordable as it once was; you are staring down the barrel of up to £9,000 per year undergrad fees, plus postgrad study costing around £15,000 (LPC or BPTC). Add to this the fact that there are no guarantees of a job at the end of it, with ever more excellent candidates competing for fewer positions.

As if that wasn't enough, over the past few years many firms have frozen salaries or removed bonuses, in belt-tightening style. In May 2012 the minimum trainee salary was abolished, which means that from 2014 some firms could pay trainees no more than the national minimum wage. A suggested benefit of the minimum salary's abolition is that smaller firms will be able to afford to retain more trainees after qualification, but critics argue that many will take advantage of the new rules to use trainees as cheap labour with no intention of providing a career in return, which could once again make law the preserve of the affluent.

A discussion on the JLD's website in 2012 was instructive, not because it gave a single solution to the problem of starting the LPC without a training contract lined up, but because it showcased the multitudinous views and opinions surrounding this dilemma. Some correspondents urged students not to give up their dreams and proceed with hope in their hearts. Others said it was financial suicide to throw good money after bad and to take on a narrow vocational course without the safety net of a guaranteed training contract.

Still, it's not all bad news. Assistance is available for aspiring lawyers from less privileged backgrounds - a good place to begin searching is our diversity access schemes page, which pulls together information and links regarding the various organisations and schemes which offer help. BPP Law School, The University of Law and the Inns of Court, among others, all run sizeable scholarship programmes (more on these in this week's Feature). And obviously, if you are in the lucky position of having secured sponsorship from a firm or chambers ahead of your postgrad studies, a lot of the pressure is alleviated.

Something else to consider are the new routes into the profession that are opening up. Consider, if you will, the way of the apprentice and the chartered legal executive. They represent alternative ways of forging a legal career without the cost of university and postgraduate study. The Legal Education and Training Review (released in June 2013) encouraged this new way of qualifying, recognising that the cost of courses on the traditional routes could be a significant barrier to many.

So what do you do if things are looking a little impecunious? Give it all up and move to an ashram in India? Change tack and become a repossession agent (a growing industry, we'd wager)? Proceed as planned and cross your fingers? In short, there is no one size fits all answer. In the end, it comes down to what you can absorb, financially speaking, and whether you are being honest about your chances of getting a training contract or pupillage. Most people who enter higher education will emerge with some level of debt; this in itself should not put you off, but you have to be realistic about your earning prospects and the competition you face before making such a commitment.