Law society warns of oversupply of law graduates

Following the publication of the Legal Education and Training Review, the Law society has issued a statement in response indicating that Law graduates should be better informed before undertaking the qualifying courses such as the LPC (Legal Practice Course).

Law society Chief Executive Desmond Hudson warned that there was a significant oversupply of graduates seeking careers in the legal sector and that some students and graduates were unaware of the realities of securing a professional role. The ever-increasing number of those undertaking the LPC and paying the high costs prior to obtaining training contracts or employment of a legal nature was having a severe consequences on both legal firms and students.

The number of students embarking on the legal courses, unaware of the realities of placement in the legal industry is impacting upon the professional standards expected of current firms. Mr Hudson reiterated that:-

˜Educational establishments which are privileged to deliver qualifying law degrees are leaving quality assurance to the profession

The Junior Lawyer division of the Law society reported that within the Legal Education and Training Review, quantitative analysis suggests that the demand for employment is not expected to be restored until at least 2018, thus according to Mark Pentecost,

˜There will be significant numbers of students getting into onerous debt as well as wasting their time and hampering their employment prospects by doing the LPC and failing to secure a training contract.

The opinions expressed by the Law society and its Junior division are illustrative of the decreasing number of training contracts offered in contrast with the increasing numbers of law graduates.

A copy of the Law society's statement can be found below:-

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/press-releases/budding-lawyers-should-know-what-theyre-up-against-before-embarking-on-a-career-in-law/