The LLB in the Twenty-First Century Anthony Bradney Professor of Law Keele University

“Lawyers, law students and legal academics hold tenaciously – furiously even – to opinions about legal education. So too do university administrators, politicians, law society benchers, media pundits and others, but…[o]pinion in these fields is undisciplined, entirely unconstrained by reliable verifiable data or evidence of any sort.” A Rochette and W Pue “‘Back to Basics’? University Legal Education and 21 st Century Professionalism” (2001) 20 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 167

The LLB as a Product Total Number of Applications for Entry in 2009 – 29,211 Total Number of Acceptances for Entry in 2009 – 19,882 “Trends in the Solicitors’ Profession: Annual statistical report” (2011) The Law Society p 29“

“Law remains the top subject choice…” ( bout_us/media_enquiries /media_releases/2009/ ) bout_us/media_enquiries /media_releases/2009/

The number of applications for law, as at 15 th January 2012, was down by 3.8 per cent. However, this compared with an overall drop in applications of 7 per cent. ( out_us/media_enquiries/ media_releases/2012/ ) out_us/media_enquiries/ media_releases/2012/

The Quality of the Product Class of degree for law graduates in 2009: First 6.2 per cent Upper second 50.4 per cent Lower second 35.0 per cent Third/pass 6.8 per cent Unclassified 1.7 per cent “Trends in the Solicitors’ Profession: Annual statistical report” (2011) The Law Society p 32

56.6 per cent of law graduates in 2009 achieved a first or an upper second. In per cent of law graduates achieved a first or upper second. “Trends in the Solicitors’ Profession: Annual statistical report” (2011) The Law Society p 32

The Employment of Law Graduates Law degrees are perceived as being the most useful degrees to have when seeking employment. A Furnham and K Pertrides “The best university degrees to get a job” (2010) 42(3) Higher Education Review 50 at p 53

Employment destinations: Graduate occupations only 67.9 % Graduate and non-graduate occupations 21.0 % Non-graduate occupation only 11.0 % “Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Institutions: Longitudinal survey of the 2004/2005 cohort” (2009) HESA p 36

Law had the highest level of graduate only occupations amongst non- science subjects with the exception of education. “Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Institutions: Longitudinal survey of the 2004/2005 cohort” (2009) HESA p 36

Economic Returns for Law Graduates Being a law graduate does, on average, generate a significant financial return. It generates a particularly high return for men. I Walker and Y Zhu “Differences by Degree: Evidence of the Net Financial Rates of Return to Undergraduate Study for England and Wales” (2010) Lancaster University Management School p 14 and p 18

Public Perception of Law Schools Law departments are amongst those ranked most highly by taxpayers, being ranked 5th. A Furnham and G Sisterson “Closing university departments: the perception of taxpayers” (2000) 32(2) Higher Education Review 45 at p 49 and 50

Law Graduates and Qualification as a Solicitor “The most frequently used route to qualification as a solicitor at present is to take a first degree in law and then to spend a year taking the full-time Legal Practice Course (LPC), followed by a two-year traineeship.” “Trends in the Solicitors’ Profession: Annual statistical report” (2011) The Law Society p 28

In 2009 the Law Society estimated that 17,433 students graduated with a qualifying law degree. “Trends in the Solicitors’ Profession: Annual statistical report” (2011) The Law Society p 31

In ,809 traineeships were registered but by 2010 this had dropped to 4,874. This is a drop of 16.1 per cent. “Trends in the Solicitors’ Profession: Annual statistical report” (2011) The Law Society p 37

Law Graduates and Qualification as a Barrister In 2009/10 1,852 people were called to the Bar. In 2009/10 there were 467 new tenants. ( -the-bar/facts-and- figures/statistics/#EntryStats) -the-bar/facts-and- figures/statistics/#EntryStats

The LLB as an Education “[T]heir [legal academics] main pedagogical concern is to ‘teach the students to think’.” F Cownie “Legal Academics: Culture and Identities” (2004) p 199

“The results of the survey [of university legal academics] overall indicate a strong bias towards liberal educational objectives…” J Macfarlane, Me Jeeves and A Boon “Education for Life or Work?” (1987) 137 New Law Journal 835 at p 836

“[Graduates] have looked into themselves and developed the ability to separate mere habit and convention from what they can defend by argument. [Thus] [t]hey have ownership of their own thought and speech, and thus this imparts to them a dignity that is far beyond the outer dignity of class and rank.” M Nussbaum “Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal education” (1997) p 293