Russel group or Non Russel group uni

Hello! Is true that job employers prefer students who have finished RG unis rather Non RG unis? Is it works same for law?

Reply 1

Academic007

Many would mislead you into thinking a non-RG uni would give just as good a chance because employers don't recruit by looking at universities but that wouldn't explain why over 80% of all trainees are RG graduates. My advice is unless it's Bath or St Andrews then apply for RG. There is literally no bad RG uni for law, I can't say the same for non-RG.

Reply 2

Stiffy Byng

Neither Bath nor St Andrew's offer law as an undergraduate subject. OP, you may be able to judge the quality of Academic007's advice about law degrees by the fact that he or she didn't know that.

As for the Russell Group, people often mistake correlation for causation, and overlook the fact that many law firms and barristers chambers recruit "university-blind".

The success of Russell Group graduates in legal careers is an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Russell Group universities tend to have the best resources and they attract high achieving students and academics. They may (not must) deliver a qualitatively better law degree.

Take Oxford, for example. Some criticise the fact that the undergraduates only have two optional papers, but they study the core subjects intensely, and this can be distinctly evident when you're up against an Oxford law graduate barrister in court, as I often am (armed with a mere history degree and a PGDL, although nowadays I have decades of experience, so I've caught up). To cheer Academic007 up, I've been up against some redoubtable opponents with law degrees from Nottingham.

By contrast, I know someone who has what the University of Law calls a first and she doesn't know what a contract is. So quality counts, but quality isn't just a question of branding.

The reason to go to a Russell Group university is that they are good universities. There are several other universities not in the Russell Group which are good, and the notion that you can't get into a legal career without a degree from a Russell Group university is untrue. People are hired as individuals. Nobody gets hired simply on the strength of a CV that says BA (Cantab) or LLB (Nott).

Reply 3

PS Reviewer

It's also worth noting that the majority of law graduates (RG and non-RG) don't go into legal professional jobs.

The most recent data on graduates in employment has 48% of RG grads and 29% of non-RG grads (34% overall) employed as Legal Professionals. If you add on Legal Associate Professionals that goes up to 54% for RG and 36% for non-RG (and 41% overall).

If you factor in graduates unemployed or in further study or unable to work then that's less than half of RG grads working in legal careers 15 months after graduating. A lot of people study law degrees to go into other professions - and that's more common amongst students at non-RG universities.

Reply 4

Stiffy Byng

That's a good point.

I add that is that it appears that that roughly half of the practising lawyers in the UK have first degrees in a subject other than law. Having said that, I am a later convert to the idea of a law degree as worth doing. I don't possess a law degree, but I've been practising law long enough (and now teaching it) to realise that I was wrong in my previous view, which was that law is a useful thing to study for a professional qualification, but a waste of three years of university.

My daughter is currently wrestling with criminal law in a very high falutin' way. When I did the PGDL, all I had to do was say "Bloke stabs Bloke 2, on purpose. This means Bloke 1 goes to jail. The end". It was Noddy stuff, and hyper-easy after a rigorous first degree at a brainy university. I only really understand the law of law and of torts, because I was taught those by a Cambridge whiz who went on to take Silk. I taught myself equity by doing cases about it. Fake it till you make it! But in depth study is good.

It's a good idea to try for a Russell Group university if you can, but not going to one of those universities doesn't condemn a person to a second class career, in anything.

Poor old Russell Group. It's second 'l' is a lost cause on TSR.