Just How Likely Is It That I’ll Get A Training Contract?

Feb 23, 2015

Written By Billy Sexton, Editor, AllAboutLaw.co.uk

Following the release of the number of trainee lawyers registered in 2014 and the number students who completed their Legal Practice Course (LPC) in 2012/2013, a number of questions have been raised about the competitiveness of the industry.

Some 5,514 trainees were registered in 2014, in comparison to the 6,171 students who completed the LPC. This equates to an 89% ‘success’ rate for LPC graduates, but Max Harris, Chair of the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD), called this difference of 657 “very discouraging”. Of course, 657 law graduates without a training contract is a shame, as these students all but certainly have a similar level of skills and competencies of their counterparts who did manage to land a training contract. However, 89% having a job in their chosen field just months after graduation is a more impressive statistic than those boasted by any university in the country. Of course, there is the argument that given the cost and vocational nature of the LPC, this rate should be the very least expected.

At the same time, aspiring solicitors should be aware as anyone that the hangover of the recession is still slightly present in the graduate job market. The JLD recognise that competition for training contracts has always been an issue and “The recession has exacerbated the issues of access to the profession”. It would be a marvellous world where there is a surplus of training contracts, but competition has always been “the most difficult part of the qualification process.”

A major part of the problem, or rather a major part of becoming a solicitor, is the fact that the 657 students who didn’t land a training contract aren’t just going to give up. The LPC has set them back around £10,000, so you can’t really blame them for trying again the following year. Yet this means that these students are ‘rolled over’ to next year’s training contract application season, meaning that the numbers increase significantly year on year. Also, training contract applications aren’t just open to the 6,000 or so students who undertake the LPC. Also in the mix is final year non-law students, second year law students and GDL students. So just how many people really are in contention for these 5,500 training contracts?

Time for some number crunching. The Law Society tell us that just over 20,000 enrolled on an undergraduate law course in 2012, so let’s assume that there are roughly the same number every year. Additionally, GDL and LPC application numbers roughly reveal the number of postgraduate students. Though GDL and LPC applications are crashing more than the stock market in 1929, there were still 3,690 GDL applications for the 2014-15 academic year and 6,895 for the LPC. That means there’s up to 30,000 students on the hunt for 5,514 every year. Add in those who ‘roll over’ from the previous year, and you can see why the JLD find the numbers discouraging; when using the revised numbers, the 89% success rate turns into 18% - meaning that only one in six aspiring solicitors actually secure a training contract.

The JLD would like students to be provided with better statistics. You can envisage it now – thousands of students scrolling through their postgraduate options, coming across an aggressively highlighted statistic that 89% of LPC students or graduates landed a training contract. The JLD would like figures to be released that show the number of people who started the LPC without a training contract guaranteed and the number who go on to obtain a training contract within six months of completing the LPC. Obviously, being completely transparent doesn’t make the LPC and prospect of hunting for a training contract sound as sexy as it could be, Though BPP and the University of Law are the largest providers of the LPC, other establishments don’t have a great track record. For example, six out of 30 students of the 2012/2013 cohort at Bournemouth University had training contracts by August 2013. But would honest statistics actually change the minds of the solicitors of the future?

There’s no data we can use here that would put beyond all doubt the idea that students wouldn’t do the LPC if they knew the realities of trying to secure a training contract. For example, the JLD gathered the responses of a variety of students and, as such, there was a variety of opinions. One student said, “My advice would be do NOT pay for the LPC until you have a training contract in place. It is foolish to do so in any economic climate.” Other students suggested changes to who is actually eligible to study the LPC, with one suggesting: “I think students should only be allowed to take the LPC if they have a training contract. I realise this will never be adopted as a policy because… LPC providers are more interested in making money than in responsible recruitment into the profession.”

From these two responses, it would seem that students are not frustrated with how competitive the industry is, but rather that they are treated as business for law schools as opposed to a valued future member of the industry.

It’s no secret that landing a training contract is a challenge, both in terms of competition and finance, but it’s even more frustrating when students are treated as business and provided with manipulated statistics.

Blog