There is no doubt that law is an interesting and stimulating career, but aside from solicitors in city law firms, where a whole new set of challenges are involved, law is no longer the safe and well paid career it once was for many solicitors.

Conveyancers in particular are facing unprecedented challenges – there have been simply too many conveyancing solicitors for many years and this has squeezed down charges whilst the job has become more complicated, in complying with lenders changing requirements, clients demands and the very demanding property market.

In a survey by Searches UK of conveyancers, the following interesting results came back :-

• Almost 50% of conveyancing solicitors would not become solicitors given the knowledge they now have.
• Some 75% advised that they enjoy their job.
• Just under 15% advised that they would like to work in another legal subject
• The most popular alternative jobs for those who stated they would not be solicitors if they had their career over again were finance, teaching and journalism

Whilst pay levels and overall stress were big factors in career disappointment, dealing with difficult and unreasonable clients was the number 1 reason for the wish to have another career.

Prospective lawyers are a determined bunch, no doubt about it, and the prospects generally for graduates at the moment have never been more difficult in living memory, but trainees should be aware of the odds.

The research indicating the harsh realities comes from the Association of Graduates. Of little comfort is the underlying figure across all sectors, which is even worse at 83 application for all types of graduate training doe each position.

Roll On Friday drilled down into the figures further and surprisingly found that at some of the biggest forms, where competition is fiercest, the prospects are slightly better as there are so many more training contracts. Apparently, Slaughter and May receives around 2,000 applications for 90 training contracts, which results in a 1 in 22 chance, much better than the overall rate.

On the more positive side, with a slight pick up recently in prospects for the bigger firms (although smaller firms are finding it even harder and that’s without the coming big bang in legal services), it is predicted that there may be around 15% more training contracts available in the biggest firms in the coming couple of years.

Good luck !

• Over a  30 year period from  1979 to 2009, the number of solicitors with practising certificates has risen by well over  200%.
• Solicitors are employed in around 17,000 separate organisations.
• In 2008/09, taking into consideration disclosed ethnicity ethnic groups made up 11.4% of all solicitors.
• 45.2% of solicitors are now female, this figure doubling over the last 10 years.
• The pass rate in the LPC exams is around  75%.
• In 2009-10 there will be 11,370 full-time and 3,112 part-time places available. Of the combined number of some 14,500 there are an average level of under 6,000 training contracts available per annum.

We have peviously expressed our opinion that it is nonsensical for so many students to be encouraged to apply for the LPC when there are already simply too many solicitors let alone training contracts. We take no pleasure from being doomsayers but it appears that others share our view.

In an interesting article in the Lawyer, there are some useful stats which are worth any law student carefully considering, so we thought we woulod share the article here.

All we are saying is, if you want to go ahaed, be aware of the full facts, and the full picture on prospects.

Newly published Law Society data shows that the number of qualified solicitors in England and Wales has risen massively in the last 30 years to a current figure of over 150,00, with 118,000 practising as solicitors.

This contrasts with a figure of les than 38,000 in 1980 and must call into question whether there are now simply too many solicitors. The figures also do not take into account the burgeoning number of paralegals, many of whom have followed a legal career right through to Law School, but have failed to secure training contracts, which is the final hurdle before full qualification.

The Law Society figures also show that :-

• In 2010, nearly half of all solicitors are now women, a significant shift over the past 10 years.
• There still appears to be a gender divide when it comes to partnership – some 48% of men are partners but only 21% of women.
• Around 11% of practising solicitors were from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, also representing an increase.

Finally and long overdue, it now appears there will be a new system to enable a slightly faster, less fragmented and crucially potentially cheaper method of becoming a lawyer. In addition, this course seem designed to avoid the huge problem for those wanting to become lawyers, namely the scarcity of training contracts as a proportion of those wanting them. Rather than the standard University, Law School and then training contract route, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has sanctioned plans for a new course and Northumbria University is the first to offer the five-year course, starting with  a small pilot programme this year.

Critics of the new course argue that it will not help those who wish to pursue a career as a solicitor in a bif city practice since large firms will still cherry pick and have their own method of law school training and training contracts. The other major criticism is that solicitors will qualify with even less practical experience. Students would still have to compete for placements, but would be guaranteed a place working in the Law School’s own pro bono service.

Cost savings

One obvious and major advantage of the new scheme is that it will exempt students from the LPC, which costs some £9,000.

Later in this article, I set out some of the numerous alternatives (my list is certainly not intended to be exhaustive – lawyers always add caveats !). However, if you are determined to try and join 1 of the 10,300 or so firms of solicitors in private practice in England and Wales or the 12,000 or so  self-employed barristers I wish you the very best of luck !

Alternatives to the slog of private practice

• In-house lawyer
• Finance – financial services, anlyst positions, stockbroking, insurance. Many provide summer work placement programmes, which are an excellent starting point ( experiencing the day to day work environment is very important)
• Insolvency work – much of insolvency work, particularly when dealing with administrations is very law related, is highly interesting and challenging work, and can be lucrative.
• Joining an accountancy practice, which could also lead to a legal career due to the very high probability of more hybrid law/accountancy practices in the future when alternative business structures come into play
• Publishing and media – writing about law can be very interesting and there are many publishers requiring not only legal content but also legal advice about content. In addition, there are now an ever increasing number of online publishers, and the traditional role has changed to incrporate among other things copywriting and blogging (I am always on the look out for freelance content so please email if you are interested in this)
• Further education – a law degree and/or LPC qualification are useful tools for applying to do an MBA, which in turn is a highly recognised general business qualification
• Commercial investigation – many law students have no knowledge of this possible career, which often involves legally qualified people and is a fascinating and varied role, comprising analytical input, strategic thinking, research skills, legal knowledge and client management skills. There are a large number of niche commercial investigation suppliers worth looking into.
• Company secretrial – can lead to a professional career as an independent non-executive director. There is a sizeable market for freelance directors with good business backgrounds and experience, and knowledge of the law, obviously corporate and company law, is very useful for many companies.