policy & reform campusreview. com. au
Weighing up a law degree
Should students bother doing a bachelor of law if they don’ t intend to enter the legal profession?
By Loren Smith
Malcolm Turnbull shared his strong thoughts on law degrees with Canberra radio station 2CC recently. What’ s news to no-one is that he – like many others – thinks too many people are studying law. The scoop? That they’ d be“ better off” studying arts or economics.
The journalist turned lawyer turned businessman turned politician – now prime minster – sees a law degree as a vocational qualification. Therefore, to him, it seems sensible to critique the flood of students pursuing it given the bearish legal job market and the fact that many law grads end up elsewhere.
But not everyone agrees. Rosalind Dixon, professor of law at the University of New South Wales, thinks the degree her faculty provides goes beyond black letters. In her view, it teaches all of the‘ buzzy’ soft skills, like critical thinking, ethical decisionmaking, citizenship and working under pressure, which aren’ t necessarily taught elsewhere and are valued by employers.
“ There is no degree called‘ advanced critical theory’,” she says.
Bruce Guthrie, research fellow at research organisation Graduate Careers Australia( GCA) agrees. He says there is evidence that shows law graduates are indeed relatively employable, particularly when they have completed a double degree.“[ Law is ] hard to get into, therefore
it marks students out as better students, and thereby potentially better employees.”
GCA research shows that in 2016 around 70 per cent of law graduates were employed in a legal capacity, while almost 28 per cent were employed in another professional role. Yet are those who are not practising law doing it by choice?
Guthrie says there is insufficient research to answer this. Anecdotally, he knows there is a mix of law students – those who wish to practise, those who don’ t, and those who change their mind about this mid-degree.“ Law can be pretty boring in places.”
Nonetheless, is the time, effort and money that goes into a law degree worth the possible payoff?
“ Absolutely,” says Dixon. Besides, she adds, since universities generally mandate that law is combined with another degree, she doesn’ t think it’ s a case of either / or.
Guthrie was unable to respond to the question due to a dearth of evidence, though he cited research demonstrating the employment value of combined degrees generally.
In 2015(“ when the GFC was still affecting graduate employment notably”), 74 per cent of double-degree graduates gained employment quickly, compared to 68 per cent of single-degree graduates. Pre-GFC, in 2002, this gap remained substantial, at 86 to 81 per cent.
Because of its unknown outcomes, Guthrie suggests potential law students make their own calculated bets on the degree.
“ Yes, it does cost more money. It takes more time, so it keeps them out of the legal market for two or so years longer, so it is also potentially wages foregone. They have to do the sums.”
Dixon also pointed to the fact that law graduates have to obtain a diploma to practise as a lawyer – which singles out the vocationally minded ones.“ I think the only danger of doing a law degree if you don’ t want to be a lawyer is to get tunnel vision and to think, well, now I have to use the degree in a really practical, literal way,” she says.
Somewhat inconsistently, however, UNSW recently introduced a new law degree admissions scheme, specifically to weed out those who weren’ t truly committed to its legal aspects.
Meanwhile, possibly indicative of the issue’ s muddiness, Anthony Lieu, managing director of Beyond Law, a job search site for young lawyers, straddles both sides of the debate.
“ A law degree is a passport to a diverse range of career options, whether it be a lawyer, investment banker or even politician( Malcolm Turnbull took all three options),” he says.“ The PM is feeding into the already exhausted debate about the oversupply of law students, without resolving the real issues at the demand and supply side( such as the opening of new law schools in the past couple of years).”
He also raised a different, emerging issue for law students: technology.
“ The future lawyer must be well-versed in all things legal technology( think machine learning, smart contracts, automation, cryptocurrency).
“ The NewLaw firms are already making their mark on the industry, opening up new roles that did not exist five years ago, including legal engineers, legal technologists and legal project managers.” ■
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