More may be discouraged from a law career as graduate numbers are extremely lower than oft-reported figures
In recent years, there has been the perception that law graduates’ employment prospects are poor. This month a survey conducted by the Council of Australia Law Deans of the 39 law schools across Australia revealed that the total number of Law Australian graduates in 2015 was 7,583. This was a large shortfall of the 15,000 frequently reported in the media.
The Law Society of NSW is focused on the future prospects for law graduates and has sought to heavily invest resources into several projects this year.
One key project is a new ground-breaking tracking study that will be rolled out in NSW and ACT in April 2017, for all final year law students. From this point students will be surveyed 18 months and 3 years after graduation to determine whether students career intentions do actually become their career destinations.
With evidence suggesting that only 66% of law students want to pursue a career in the legal industry, the Law Society has sought to fill the information gap and showcase to students all the employment opportunities available to them with a law degree.
Some of the other work the Law Society created for Law Students include the newly created StudentHub website to assist law students and recent graduates in forging a successful career in the legal industry and the development of a new law guide that will be distributed to all law students across Australia in 2017.
One key element for the Law Society was to create a new platform that will educate Law students on all opportunities available in one place. LegalVitae is the first online jobs portal of its kind. It seeks to connect law students and graduates to premium employers nation-wide.
The new platform is already very popular with employers; having secured the big 6 law firms, Corporates, premium government departments and key social justice organisations nationwide.
LegalVitae also gives employers the opportunity to be first in line to share their key brand messages with top-scoring applicants through the portal’s high-level targeting function.
"This portal represents an innovative step forward for graduates and employers alike in what can often be a fragmented market," said Michael Tidball, Law Society CEO.
