Southampton vs Sheffield Law Grad Prospects

Hi guys,

With my application being sent I've got Sheffield for law with Spansish law as my firm (AAB). Fingers crossed, I can see myself possibly getting A*AB or AAA, in which case I've always wanted to go to Southampton to do straight law through adjustment (clearing). However if the graduate prsopects for big London firms are better in Sheffield I would rather just go there because I enjoyed their campus too. Could you guys please give your opinions on which of the two unis would be better for Law graduate prospects in big London firms, not necessarily Magic Circle.
Thanks guys.

Reply 1

username2353215

Original post by koyeman7

I would say Sheffield personally. Having looked at a few "studies" Sheffield was always near the top of graduates working in regional firms (one study said it was the highest provider of graduates for national firms) Southampton i dont think did as well (how you take these figures and statistics is subjective). Both are RG however i would say Sheffield will probably be the better option out of the two. It is worth considering that "Top London Firms" are usually filled up by Oxbridge, LSE, UCL, KCL, Durham, Warwick. And really only a handful of vacancies are left. But then again places for Training Contracts and Pupillages are fiercely competitive. If you think you will enjoy Southampton ALOT more and think you wont be happy at Sheffield then definitely go to Southampton as at the end of the day getting a 1st at Southampton because your happy is better than a 2:2 from a university you hate.

Reply 2

koyeman7

Oh I see, I have seen some stats saying that Sheffield was near the top for regional firms, but I was always more focused on firms in London. Thanks mate.

Reply 3

username2353215

Original post by koyeman7

Oh I see, I have seen some stats saying that Sheffield was near the top for regional firms, but I was always more focused on firms in London. Thanks mate.

No problem. The university is not really the be all and end all and like i mentioned make sure you will enjoy the university and not hate every second of it. Best of luck with your results, hope you get the grades you want.

Reply 4

username1177050

They are both top institutions and Southampton is meant to be very good if you want to go into maritime/shipping insurance law for obvious reasons. However, I would go for Sheffield as it has history on its side and if you look at many of the partners LinkedIn profiles you will see that a lot of them are Sheffield alumni. I have been to numerous open day events and events organised by organisations were the delegates sent by the firm have been former Sheffield students. I am sure there are many influential city people from Southampton but I haven't come across any of them. Sheffield as a city is pretty live, there is something to do for everyone and it punches above its weight imo. Your career prospects are decent, all the top law firms visit and I think they were the most popular uni addleshaw Goddard recruited from last year. I am a first year at Sheffield so if you wanna know anything then feel free to pm me

Reply 5

zero_gravity

Original post by koyeman7

I think it all depends on which city you want to go to. Both unis have respectable law courses. Since you've mentioned that you would like to enter a big city firm, I don't think it would do you wrong to choose either Sheffield or Southampton. Given that both of them are RG unis, the difference would be minimal to say that one is better than the other.

Reply 6

ORW

Original post by zero_gravity

Both are RG universities so that is good

Although its a few years old this guide may help you;

http://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/media/1067/what_is_a_good_university.pdf

Reply 7

koyeman7

Thanks everyone for all the replies, this has really helped!

Reply 8

username1177050

Also, are you interested in doing law with Spanish or just picked it because it has lower grade requirements?? I wouldn't worry about Sheffield being a AAA course, they were accepting people with BBB last year for the main AAA straight LLB course

Reply 9

koyeman7

Oh. At first I was just gonna do straight law but because I also do Spanish, I thought that I might aswell do Law with Spanish law because it might look better to employers, and yeah, also cos the entry requirements are slightly lower 😂. If that's true though, then that's lifted a bit of pressure of my shoulders.

Reply 10

username1177050

If your interested in Spanish also then do that, it will definitely look good to employers haha. Yeah I think they got more lenient along with other unis because the cap on the ABB+ students was lifting, meaning the can recruit as many students with any grades if they have the capacity/see fit. obviously they want your money so they will probs accept you if you are closish to ABB. Law is usually one of the larger class sizes too