Law

If you want to enter the legal profession, it is important to participate in extracurricular activities at university, such as those organised by your university's law society, and to gain legal work experience.

Over the course of your degree you develop a wide mix of subject-specific and technical skills, you should consider these skills developed on your course as well as through your other activities, such as paid work, volunteering, family responsibilities, sport, membership of societies, leadership roles, etc. Think about how these can be used as evidence of your skills and personal attributes. Then you can start to market and sell who you really are, identify what you may be lacking and consider how to improve your profile.

Working as a Pupil Barrister

See the full video at Careers4U 

Prospects

In 2010, six months after graduation, around 35% of law graduates were in paid employment in the UK or overseas, while a further 50% were undertaking further study or training, or combining work with further study.

Of those who had gone directly into work, 13% had moved into the legal profession. However, around 17% were working in other clerical and secretarial occupations, some of which will be in a legal setting or ancillary legal professions, with scope for progression.

Other popular career areas included commercial, industrial and public sector management, business and financial management, marketing, sales and advertising, and social and welfare professions. This demonstrates the range of employers that value the skill set developed through studying law.

Where are the jobs?

If you qualify as a solicitor, there are openings in many different types of legal practices. High street solicitors' practices offer the widest range of caseloads, from criminal and family to probate and business law. Local government also provides diverse opportunities. Corporate law firms encourage early specialisation, often, but not exclusively, in commercial applications of the law. If you qualify as a barrister, you can practise in a similarly large number of diverse areas of law, but as an expert advocate. You could also train as a legal executive, paralegal or licensed conveyancer. For more information see legal services.

However, the legal profession is just the tip of the iceberg and you might want to investigate employment opportunities in areas such as:

• Government and public administration - not only in legal departments but in a range of roles;
• Banking, investment and insurance - many roles require the mix of skills law graduates have;
• Charity and development work - advice work is just one aspect of the sector, which appeals to many law graduates.

Jobs directly related to your degree

• Commercial solicitor, Non-commercial solicitor, Solicitor, Scotland, Solicitor, private practice (Northern Ireland)
• Barrister, Advocate (Scotland)
• Legal executive (England and Wales)
• Licensed conveyancer
• Paralegal (England and Wales)

Jobs where your degree would be useful

• Advice worker
• Trading standards officer
• Chartered accountant
• Patent attorney
• Police officer
• Human resources officer
• Civil Service fast streamer, Civil Service administrator

Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it's not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

You can find more about the skills you develop during your course, the jobs listed above, plus case studies and where to find these jobs at Prospects.

Included with the permission of AGCAS. For the latest version of this publication, see www.prospects.ac.uk. For permission to reproduce, contact copyright@agcas.org.uk