Baroness Hale: too many law students, not enough jobs
updated on 08 November 2013
Baroness Hale, deputy president of the Supreme Court, has warned that the growing disconnect between the opportunities to study law and the number of legal jobs available makes it "very hard" for her to encourage young people to seek a legal career.
Reported in Legal Futures, Hale's comments came during a speech at the launch of a report on social mobility and diversity in the legal aid sector from the Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL). Hale said that she was "hugely" bothered by the fact that, despite various efforts by the legal profession, "social advantage, independent schooling and Oxbridge" continue to determine access to it. In addition, she had concerns about the "greatly increased the numbers of law schools, the numbers of law graduates, the numbers of people qualifying as barristers, solicitors and legal executives, at a time when the numbers of law jobs available are diminishing".
Furthermore, she emphasised the frustration in encouraging young people into a profession that may not be able to accommodate them: "What is the point of all our outreach work with schools, of the Sutton Trust’s splendid Pathways to Law programme, and similar initiatives by the profession, if we tempt more and more young people to aspire to a legal career that most of them can never have?"
The YLAL report found, among other things, that high levels of debt combined with low salaries make legal aid work unsustainable for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. In addition, work experience (usually unpaid) is regarded as an essential prerequisite to getting a job. The report called for:
- the SRA to reinstate the minimum salary for trainee solicitors (it was abandoned in 2012);
- professional course fees (such as the LPC and BPTC) to be subject to regulation;
- robust guidance from regulators on acceptable and lawful use of longer-term unpaid work placements;
- recruitment guidance dealing with the problems of unpaid work experience to be actively promoted by the profession; and
- professional bodies to consider replacing the current route to qualification with a form of work-based learning.
