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Law degrees and being a lawyer is 100% overrated
Unless you're a top top student.
Discuss.
EDIT: Unless you go to one of the top 5 unis, chances are you're not going to land a top job paying a 'lawyer's' salary.
Also, very long hours, a lot of cases are incredibly boring.
Discuss.
EDIT: Unless you go to one of the top 5 unis, chances are you're not going to land a top job paying a 'lawyer's' salary.
Also, very long hours, a lot of cases are incredibly boring.
(edited 9 years ago)
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Original post by alevelzzz
Unless you're a top top student.
Discuss.
Discuss.
top top student???
what does that even mean?(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Rosie786
I'm guessing you are not one of them 'top top students'?
7A*s 3As GCSE and A*A*A* a levels disagree.
Nah, OP, it's great.
Original post by TimmonaPortella
Nah, OP, it's great.
You went to cambridge...
Original post by alevelzzz
You went to cambridge...
So you're saying a law degree from a ''lesser'' uni is ''overrated''?
I tell you what is over-rated - all these law degrees at rather low ranking unis. To make it as a lawyer you need to have
a) Good A Levels and we are talking at least AAA
b) Have gone to a top 10 university and got at least a 2:1 or preferably a first
c) Have done loads and loads of work experience, and lots of voluntary work - in the right areas
d) It helps if you have connections
e) To get a training contract you have to virtually prostitute yourself to these law firms
f) You have to do at least fifty applications and expect to receive rejections all along the way
There is no guarantee of success at the end of it - so it is all very overrated
a) Good A Levels and we are talking at least AAA
b) Have gone to a top 10 university and got at least a 2:1 or preferably a first
c) Have done loads and loads of work experience, and lots of voluntary work - in the right areas
d) It helps if you have connections
e) To get a training contract you have to virtually prostitute yourself to these law firms
f) You have to do at least fifty applications and expect to receive rejections all along the way
There is no guarantee of success at the end of it - so it is all very overrated
Original post by alevelzzz
You went to cambridge...
True, but I didn't come near the top in terms of results. You hadn't defined 'top top' when I posted.
Anyway, it's still worth it for many outside the 'top five' just in terms of employment. Plenty of people get to the City firms outside that (I'm assuming you're thinking of some list like Oxbridge, UCL, LSE, KCL/Durham/Bristol or similar).
Original post by K1996s
So you're saying a law degree from a ''lesser'' uni is ''overrated''?
pretty much, but Im talking about even the majority of the RGUs.
Aka I don't think an AVERAGE Birmingham graduate is going to get a great lawyer job, certainly not going to get pupillage
Aaaah, don't say that here! They'll hunt you down...
Original post by TimmonaPortella
True, but I didn't come near the top in terms of results. You hadn't defined 'top top' when I posted.
Anyway, it's still worth it for many outside the 'top five' just in terms of employment. Plenty of people get to the City firms outside that (I'm assuming you're thinking of some list like Oxbridge, UCL, LSE, KCL/Durham/Bristol or similar).
Anyway, it's still worth it for many outside the 'top five' just in terms of employment. Plenty of people get to the City firms outside that (I'm assuming you're thinking of some list like Oxbridge, UCL, LSE, KCL/Durham/Bristol or similar).
You have to be one of the top students from those universities though...
I just think its overrated since a lot of people dont actually realise what the job is like.
A lot of the work is tedious and as a young graduate you work very, very long hours.
i think a lot of people assume they're going to be going to court etc...
Original post by alevelzzz
pretty much, but Im talking about even the majority of the RGUs.
Aka I don't think an AVERAGE Birmingham graduate is going to get a great lawyer job, certainly not going to get pupillage
Aka I don't think an AVERAGE Birmingham graduate is going to get a great lawyer job, certainly not going to get pupillage
Fair enough, from what ive been told by graduates its pretty much true. I am going to study law at a pretty low ranked uni although i have no intention of working for a top firm. If you have a dream of working as a top lawyer for Clifford Chance or Kennedys and such then an average degree from most unis will leave you without a chance.
Original post by K1996s
Fair enough, from what ive been told by graduates its pretty much true. I am going to study law at a pretty low ranked uni although i have no intention of working for a top firm. If you have a dream of working as a top lawyer for Clifford Chance or Kennedys and such then an average degree from most unis will leave you without a chance.
I just think A LOT of people have VERY unrealistic expectations with law....
Probably caused by societies idea that ALL lawyers are very well paid - I think they're about 30 years in the past though
Original post by alevelzzz
You have to be one of the top students from those universities though...
I just think its overrated since a lot of people dont actually realise what the job is like.
A lot of the work is tedious and as a young graduate you work very, very long hours.
i think a lot of people assume they're going to be going to court etc...
I just think its overrated since a lot of people dont actually realise what the job is like.
A lot of the work is tedious and as a young graduate you work very, very long hours.
i think a lot of people assume they're going to be going to court etc...
I honestly don't know much about the kind of student firms recruit from, say, less prestigious RG unis. I expect it's as much, and probably more, to do with good ECs etc as with top grades.
You're probably right that a lot of people think being a junior solicitor is more glamorous than it actually is. (Although the term 'lawyer' would include barristers, in which case you are going to be going to court.) But that's why people do vac schemes etc. Besides, you can get other jobs with a law degree.
Original post by alevelzzz
I just think A LOT of people have VERY unrealistic expectations with law....
Probably caused by societies idea that ALL lawyers are very well paid - I think they're about 30 years in the past though
Probably caused by societies idea that ALL lawyers are very well paid - I think they're about 30 years in the past though
Yup, the average salary is somewhere around £40,000. A lot of aspiring 16 year olds wanting to be lawyers will be shocked at that figure. People should fully research a degree and what career prospects they will realistically have before choosing a university/course. Goes for all degrees tbh.
Original post by alevelzzz
Unless you're a top top student.
Discuss.
EDIT: Unless you go to one of the top 5 unis, chances are you're not going to land a top job paying a 'lawyer's' salary.
Also, very long hours, a lot of cases are incredibly boring.
Discuss.
EDIT: Unless you go to one of the top 5 unis, chances are you're not going to land a top job paying a 'lawyer's' salary.
Also, very long hours, a lot of cases are incredibly boring.
This is nonsense. I did work experience at a top City commercial chambers where the pupillage salary is about 45k and there were a handful of top 5 uni graduates for about 30/40 RG ones. The guy I worked with went to Newcastle and recently successfully defended one of the defendants in the multi billion dollar Madoff case. Law is certainly a field where university prestige is important but aside from a fraction of chambers and firms like Fountain Court Chambers which hire almost exclusively from Oxbridge there is more than enough space at the top of its earning potential for those from the Russell Group.
As for the long hours, status and wealth don't commonly come without those sorts of sacrifices, and like most things it's only truly boring if you aren't interested in the first place.
Can I ask where you're getting this information?
Original post by K1996s
Fair enough, from what ive been told by graduates its pretty much true. I am going to study law at a pretty low ranked uni although i have no intention of working for a top firm. If you have a dream of working as a top lawyer for Clifford Chance or Kennedys and such then an average degree from most unis will leave you without a chance.
What do you class as a top class uni or an average uni if u dont mind me ask?
Original post by Birkenhead
This is nonsense. I did work experience at a top City commercial chambers where the pupillage salary is about 45k and there were a handful of top 5 uni graduates for about 30/40 RG ones. The guy I worked with went to Newcastle and recently successfully defended one of the defendants in the multi billion dollar Madoff case. Law is certainly a field where university prestige is important but aside from a fraction of chambers and firms like Fountain Court Chambers which hire almost exclusively from Oxbridge there is more than enough space at the top of its earning potential for those from the Russell Group.
As for the long hours, status and wealth don't commonly come without those sorts of sacrifices, and like most things it's only truly boring if you aren't interested in the first place.
Can I ask where you're getting this information?
As for the long hours, status and wealth don't commonly come without those sorts of sacrifices, and like most things it's only truly boring if you aren't interested in the first place.
Can I ask where you're getting this information?
What about ''new'' russell group unis i.e the 1994 group e.g. leicester, UEA. Do you think that its equally as likely to get in a top city firm if you study there?
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