Legal Week Intelligence surveyed 2,500 students to find out what they think of their prospective employers. Charlotte Edmond finds that brand trumps all and that law is edging ahead of rival career paths as banking loses its lustre

When it comes to law firm prestige there is no denying that the magic circle tag still works its, well, magic. And there are few other groups that buy into the brand power of these five firms more so than the student population.

Given free choice to name five law firms they would rate highly, students consistently turned to the magic circle group, viewing them as offering the best career options, work-life balance, partnership prospects and training – not to mention prestige – of all law firms.

But with job losses and training contract deferrals in the air, law students are taking a cautious approach, and paying more attention to redundancies and retention rates than before.

In a major survey of more than 2,500 students at Russell Group universities and major graduate diploma in law (GDL) course providers, in association with BPP Law School, Allen & Overy (A&O) emerged as the overall leader, averaged across all five categories. The firm pipped Clifford Chance (CC) to the post with an average score of 28%, just ahead of CC's 27% – although CC was deemed to have the highest prestige of all the firms.

The survey, which was conducted throughout February by Legal Week's research arm, Legal Week Intelligence, predictably places Linklaters, Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in third to fifth place respectively, streets ahead of any other law firms mentioned.

Lovells is the only firm to interrupt the run of magic circle firms in the top five places, sneaking ahead of Freshfields when it comes to perceptions of work-life balance.

Among the national and regional firms, Addleshaw Goddard emerged as the overall leader, scoring consistently highly alongside Pinsent Masons. Addleshaw graduate recruitment manager Brett Galloway said: "We have done a lot of research on what motivates Generation Y and what makes them tick compared with previous generations. Generation Y have grown up in an era of branding. You have to get your brand right and if you are not thinking about it you are missing out."

Students deemed Addleshaws to have more prestige than a number of its City rivals, including Ashurst and SJ Berwin. However, Scottish leader Dundas & Wilson emerged as having one of the best reputations, not just within its category, but overall. The firm was cited by 12% of students, placing it ahead of firms such as Norton Rose, Baker & McKenzie and Simmons & Simmons, reflecting perhaps its dominant position north of the border.

With the exception of Baker & McKenzie, which was the only non-UK based firm to make it into the top 10 firms, unsurprisingly, international firms fared less well than their UK counterparts.

The highest-rated US law firm among students was Jones Day, followed by White & Case and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

The application process

The survey also canvassed student opinion on the education process and perceptions of the application process.

And while students had set opinions about firms' prestige and the career options at each, more than half (59%) of prospective solicitors said that they would be put off applying to a law firm that has made redundancies. Forty-one percent said that a firm's newly-qualified retention rate is a major factor in determining which firms they apply to.

However, experience gained from summer placements remains the greatest single motivator when it comes to considering which firm to apply to. In decreasing levels of influence, students also earmarked directories, law firm presentations and social events, law firm brochures and websites as key factors when looking at potential employers.

Olswang human resources director Ffion Griffith said: "There is so much more information available to students these days, via the internet and blogs. In previous years students would rely on a weighty tome, which by its very nature was always six months out of date. While having a strong brand is important to capture attention, students are much more clued up and can always find the real story about the firm."

In general, GDL students give greater importance to LPC funding than undergraduates (just 11% of undergraduates are not influenced by the existence or otherwise of LPC funding). However, the majority of both undergraduate/LLM and GDL students say they find it difficult to find discernable differences between different firms in many of these respects.

The main motivations for students to become lawyers are intellectual challenge (57%) and prestige (16%). The proportion of students that want to 'serve the public good' has fallen from 9% to 7% in the past two years.

The student population

Compared with when the survey was first started two years ago, the number of students looking to move away from the legal profession has fallen. Only 13% of undergraduate and LLM students do not want to be lawyers, compared with 18% in 2007.

Overall, 50% of undergraduates want to be solicitors, 16% want to be barristers and 22% are happy to be either. Twice as many Oxbridge students (31%) as red brick students (15%) want to go to the Bar.

As bankers continue to face criticism for the collapse of many major institutions, the banking and financial services sector has lost much of its former appeal among the student population. The proportion of students also considering a career in investment banking is 17% – down from 25% two years ago.

Main alternative careers for prospective lawyers are the civil service and academia/teaching (22% each), media sales and marketing (19%) and management consultancy.

For those who do not intend to qualify as lawyers, the civil service (48%) and academia/teaching (40%) are the most popular career options.

Well over half (60%) of students' ultimate aim is to become a partner of a law firm. The response rate between the sexes varies only slightly, with 62% of men and 60% of women citing partnership as their goal – a stark contrast to Legal Week Intelligence's annual survey of associates and assistants, where the respective figures are around 60% and 40%.

The next most popular career option is to 'start own firm' (13%) followed by a move in-house (10%). And while increasing numbers of law firms are introducing permanent 'non-partner' roles, just 5% of prospective solicitors say they want to remain permanently below partner level.

The education process

The College of Law is the most popular law school among undergraduate and LLM law students, being the first choice of 34% of respondents. Second is BPP (24%), followed by the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice (14%).

The main factors influencing student choice regarding the education provider they choose are the quality of teaching, followed by the employment prospects following graduation.

However, relatively few students are able to evaluate the individual merits of law schools – two-thirds said that they could not tell the difference or did not think that one stood out from the rest.

For a executive summary of the Law Student Report 2009, click here.

For further details please contact Paul Birk on 0207 316 9864 or email [email protected]

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