The first rungs on the ladder of the legal profession have been hit hard by the economic downturn with the numbers of training contracts and newly qualified solicitor positions being cut dramatically.
The Association of Graduate Recruiters has recently released figures showing that vacancies in the legal sector have dropped by over 19% in 2009.
Many firms have reduced their trainee solicitor intake in response to the recession meaning even more intense competition for training contracts. According to research by Sweet & Maxwell this year, law firms are receiving an average of 130 applications for each training contract vacancy on offer compared with an average of 52 last year. Training contracts are also being deferred which is set to reduce future vacancies even further.
The newly qualified market has also become a much tougher place to be with less positions available, increasing redundancies and temporary lay-offs as well as pay cuts and reductions in working weeks.
Here at TSS we do not want to seem like doom-mongerers, as there are enough of those in the nation’s media already. We do, however, feel it’s important for young lawyers to have their eyes wide open to the current landscape rather than burying their head in the sand and carrying on the same path before realizing their plight down the line when debts have snowballed, stress levels have increased and desperation takes hold.
We would always recommend that you ensure that you have fully researched and thought through your career choice, your career path and your career chances. The last thing you want is to find yourself on the conveyor belt out of university with a load of other people who have not assessed their options properly and then have to re-think. Be smart and do your thinking now.
If after some good self-reflection and research you decide the law is still for you then go for it – do more research, get more experience, perfect your application and interview techniques and then persevere.
If after some good self-reflection and research you decide the law might not be for you then you need to take stock, be 100% honest with yourself, research other options and maybe jump off the legal conveyor belt and see what else is out there. For help with this visit the Just Not Sure and Out of Law sections of this site.
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