Becoming a solicitor has never been an easy process, but this year's Law Student Report reveals the number of students opting to pursue a career outside the legal sector has hit a record high. James Mayer reports

According to Legal Week Intelligence's eighth Law Student Report (LSR), the number of students wanting to pursue a career in law has seen a steady decline over the past three years. In 2011 80% of students said they wanted to be a solicitor, falling to 75% in 2012 and 71% in 2013. In 2014 this figure has fallen further, with only 70% of students seeing their future as a solicitor. 

And they have good reason to think twice about a career in the legal sector. Only 20% of students who responded to this year's LSR have secured a training contract, a 7% decline from last year. Of these, the majority are male (25%), went to Oxbridge (38%) and are privately educated (27%), suggesting that law firms' efforts to widen the pool they recruit from have yet to make a significant impact.

When asked what is the most difficult thing about obtaining a training contract many students unsurprisingly cited competition and the difficulty of standing out from thousands of other applicants.

Some respondents also pointed to the complexity of the process. "It is no longer enough to simply apply for a training contract in your penultimate year," one student comments. "For many top City firms, you now need to complete a vacation scheme at that firm, and to get onto the scheme you need to first complete a workshop or 'insight day' in your first year."  

Educating for the legal sector and beyond

The scarcity of training contracts is undoubtedly an influencing factor for the 12% of students openly looking for non-legal careers – double the proportion who were looking outside law in 2010. "I think a lot of people who come to study law degrees are keeping their options open," says Chris Coyle, president of the Manchester University Law Society.

Non-legal careers have been increasing in popularity for the past four years. In 2010 only 6% of students said they were interested in working outside the legal profession, rising to 10% in 2012 and hitting a high of 12% in 2014. Some career options have remained reliably popular, such as the civil service (24%) and academia (23%). The third most popular options for non-legal careers are management consultancy and investment banking (both 17%).  

As students look both inside and outside the legal sector for employment, the quality of legal education and the need to gain adaptable professional skills are more valuable than ever. This shift has left some space for newer entrants among the traditionally elitist list of law schools, as students begin to broaden their view of the value of a law degree.       

When choosing a legal education provider, students most value the quality of teaching. They give this a score for importance of 4.6 out of five, a 0.7 increase from 2013 (see box for methodology). Students perceive University College London (UCL) as having the best quality of teaching, taking the top slot for the first time with a score of 4.86. Cambridge drops one spot to second place, closely competing with UCL at 4.84. Also new to the top three is the Glasgow-based University of Strathclyde, with a score of 4.80.  sign-2-web

A tough graduate employment market means it is no surprise that employability following a law degree scores higher for importance than ever before at 4.4, climbing from 3.8 in 2013. Changes in the course rankings are most notable in this category, with a completely new list of universities in the top three. Strathclyde scores highest here at 4.70, followed closely by Southampton and BPP (both 4.59) and Manchester (4.58).  

The course's prestige – a new measurement in 2014 – is less important than the quality of the teaching or employability for students, who gave this measure a score of 4 out of 5 for importance.

However, among the Oxbridge contingent and those who are privately educated, prestige has a higher than average importance, with the two groups rating it 4.4 and 4.1 respectively. Students at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) are most concerned with prestige (4.65), followed by UCL (4.64) and Cambridge (4.48).  

The hike in tuition fees has made little difference to the value students attach to a law degree, with many considering the qualification priceless. In fact students are seemingly paying a decreasing amount of attention to their course's value for money, giving it an importance score of 3.7 this year, down from 3.8 in 2012 and 2013.

"Fees have not really had much of an effect, as a Cambridge degree is worth the investment and will pay off," says Christina Sweeney-Baird, an undergraduate and president of the Cambridge University Law Society.

Minorities are more concerned here (3.9) than white students, who give value an importance score of 3.5. Scores for value for money have declined for most universities, with students rating BPP the best value (3.9), followed by Queen Mary University of London (3.81) and Reading and Southampton, which are tied for third (3.8).  

Timothy Endicott, dean of the faculty of law at the University of Oxford, concludes: "I always say to my students that the fees may seem eye-watering, but a university degree is the best investment they will ever make."  

Getting through: marketing to students

For those students who choose legal careers, there have never been more channels of engagement with their future employers. So how do students avoid information overload and choose the right law firm?  

"I feel strongly that many students come to university without knowing much about any of the law firms," says Endicott. "If they are given a clear sense of the work the firm does, how it is distinctive and why the lawyers and trainees love what they do, the firm has a better chance of finding students who will thrive. Overall, different methods work for different students."  

When students do look towards the law for a career, personal accounts of experience and face-to-face engagement are more important than any other source. "Personal recommendations and word of mouth are still very effective devices," says Manchester's Coyle.

Sweeney-Baird agrees: "I value personal accounts of firm experiences quite highly. Firms don't utilise recent trainees enough – they are a powerful resource." 

Consequently, students value work experience (4.7 out of 5) above all other forms of knowledge gathering, followed by meet and greet sessions with current trainees (4.0). On-campus events hosted or sponsored by law firms are the third most popular means of intelligence gathering on traineeships, given an average score of 3.5. 

Recruitment tools that lack a personal touch need to be reconsidered by firms. Law fairs, presentations, news coverage by legal press and prestige/appearance in major cases all score 3.3, suggesting they are not at the forefront of students' minds when trying to find out if a firm is right for their future.  

"The law fair model is a bit outdated," says Coyle. "The reality is that all the information you can get on a law firm is immediately accessible through its website." 

Despite being keen consumers of social media in their personal lives, students find this digital medium exceptionally poor for providing them with the information they require about law firms, giving it the lowest score of all (2.8). However, this may be a reflection of the sophistication of law firms' deployment of social media, rather than its inherent value.

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The survey

Legal Week Intelligence surveyed 2,500 law students. The online surveys were completed in March and April 2014. Respondents were from UK-based universities, including undergraduate level (years one to four), LPC and GDL students. Of this total, 89% were from Redbrick universities and others, with the remaining 11% from Oxbridge. Sixty-two law firms (international, national, City and US) were rated by students on their placements, brand recognition and attractiveness as a future employer. Students were asked to answer questions using a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). This is the eighth year that Legal Week Intelligence has conducted this survey.