DOES THE OXBRIDGE LAW DEGREE MEAN A ‘FREE PASS’ TO TRAINING CONTRACT?

If you are competing for a top training contract or pupillage, an Oxbridge law degree will provide you a competitive advantage over students with degrees from other Russell Group universities. At least, this seems to be the case based on the numbers. There were just 435 aspiring lawyers offered seats at Oxford or Cambridge last year, compared to 6,435 at the other Russell Group universities. The number of Oxbridge law graduates entering the legal market is, by comparison, small. That implies Oxbridge students account for fewer than 10% of new Russell Group students; when you include all other law schools in the mix, Oxbridge students account for just 2% of new Russell Group students.

This exceptional Oxbridge combo has had a significantly bigger influence on the graduate recruiting market than any other partnership in recent history. Then there are the training contracts. Finding out which law firms' have recruited Oxbridge students is challenging since the information is not readily available from the companies themselves.

Graduates who secure the magic circle training contracts do not want to disclose their financial information. Some people, on the other hand, do. The average Oxbridge participation across the 20 data-releasing businesses with the largest trainee cohorts is 18 percent, with ranges ranging from 0 percent (Irwin Mitchell) to 39 percent (Booz Allen Hamilton) (Herbert Smith Freehills). In addition to the top 20 firms, we find one company, Weil Gotshal, that has an even higher percentage of Oxbridge intake, at 42 percent.

A notable exception was that no employer hired more Oxbridge-educated trainees than it did other Russell Group-educated trainees, which were striking in comparison to the status quo. According to a Chambers list, 59 of the 100 newest tenants in the 20 largest chambers by number of student spots are from Oxbridge universities. That equates to an average of three out of five (60 percent) for each set of results. Across seven of these top 20 (Littleton, 4 Stone Building, 7 King's Bench Walk, Brick Court, Erskine, Essex Court, and Fountain Court), four out of every five new tenants is a graduate of Oxford University.

There is a full house at Maitland (five out of five), which is also true outside of the top 20 at XXIV Old Buildings (outside of the top 20). The fact that when we asked one Cambridge graduate and future barrister if he believes an Oxbridge law degree provides a golden ticket to a top position, he responded categorically and unequivocally in the affirmative was no surprise. They are certain that it has aided them tremendously in their job search and subsequent education. But, should it be done this way?

He disagrees, stating that many businesses place a lot higher value on an Oxbridge degree than they should.  Even while recruiters are often "wowed" by the institutions' prestige, our sceptic graduate argues that Oxbridge does not necessarily provide you with a 'superior' legal degree.  Most of his complaints are on the "disappointing" teaching he has gotten on several modules where many top professors at Oxbridge are there for their excellent research talents, rather than for their brilliant teaching skills.  

Despite the fact that Oxbridge is routinely acclaimed for the quality of its research and the difficulty of its admittance requirements, the duo falls short in sections of university rankings that are more focused on the student experience, such as teaching. According to The Guardian rankings, Oxford's law school is ranked 18th in the country for its teaching, although neither Oxford nor Cambridge seem to be especially strong in terms of student happiness. According to The Guardian, Cambridge is ranked third, after London South Bank and the University of East Anglia, while Oxford is ranked 29th. According to the Complete University Guide, Cambridge's law school ranks 12th and Oxford's law school ranks 39th in terms of student satisfaction, respectively. Cambridge is ranked 29th and Oxford is ranked 54th in terms of the proportion of students who are happy with comments.

In each of these categories, there are other Russell Group universities that outperform (at least one of) the pair: Belfast, Leeds, and York in teaching and student satisfaction, for example, while seven of the other 21 Russell Group law faculties score higher in feedback than the pair: Belfast, Leeds, and York to become a lawyer, one recent Cambridge graduate advises prospective attorneys to apply for Oxbridge every time, not because the degree is superior, but rather because everyone believes that it is. There are a variety of reasons why his advice will not be followed, though (and not simply by those who lack the necessary academic credentials).

There are myriad reasons why his advice will not be followed, though (and not just by people who don’t have the grades).

Students at Liverpool University have expressed their disappointment with the open days they attended at both Oxford and Cambridge, which they say painted the historic duo as "very work focused," with little to be said for sports (apart from rowing) or student societies that were not academically focused.  This discouraged Sarah from submitting an application. An Exeter graduate who is currently enrolled at a well-regarded London institution claims that he did not apply to Oxbridge because he did not want to take an admissions exam. In the words of another prospective lawyer, currently studying at Durham, her personality didn't mesh with Oxford, while a colleague student who just graduated from Cardiff University was deterred from applying to Oxbridge because of the "culture and rules" of the institution.

Whatever the motivation, a choice taken at the age of 17 not to pursue a legal degree at Oxford or Cambridge does not, fortunately, spell the end of young lawyers' dreams for a successful career. As one Durham student said excellent academic performance, a compelling application, being personable, and being able to picture the applicant succeeding inside the organisation, in my view, hold higher weight than applicants' college or university. Even a Cambridge law student admits that law firms look at a variety of other traits in their applicants before making them an offer. An Oxbridge degree does not always imply that an individual is a team player or that they are capable of communicating with others in an efficient manner.

Firms' engagement with initiatives such as Rare Recruitment and the adoption of 'CV blind' by a select few firms go even further to demonstrate that a candidate's chances of success as a lawyer are not just dependent on their university's reputation. These programmes urge recruiters to take a more comprehensive approach to prospects and to avoid the 'lazy' Oxbridge bias that exists. Firms want the finest, according to one LSE student, but they don't want a "brand of elitism" anymore. These diversity initiatives, on the other hand, do not seem to have resulted in a decrease in Oxbridge representation. According to Chambers Student research conducted between 2013 and 2016, the proportion of trainees with an Oxbridge education has grown – by 1.2 percentage points — over the previous year.

In accordance with the Chambers Student study, programmes such as Rare Recruitment and other initiatives are having an effect, albeit at the sacrifice of representativeness in the Russell Group community. According to the data, firms hired from 14 more colleges in 2016 than they did in 2013, although the proportion of trainees who had an Russell Group education decreased by more than 15 percentage points (from 79.3 percent to 63.8 percent).

The Russell Collection is suffering the burden of corporate diversity initiatives at a time when the group of top-ranked colleges is going through a period of transition. The Russell Group's declining standing and influence is due to the fact that its leaders have manoeuvred themselves into a situation where they are substantially reliant on undergraduate income irrespective of the quality of the intake. Some Russell Group law schools are already enrolling more than 500 students each year, which will only serve to exacerbate their low performance on the National Student Survey (NSS).

Indeed, whilst Oxbridge barely earns acclaim all round for its student experience, several Russell Group institutions routinely find themselves languishing at the absolute bottom of the NSS. The most recent league table showed no Russell Group colleges ranked better than 19th. Southampton, Queen Mary and Edinburgh came in in equal 90th position. LSE failed and did not reach the top 100. The Complete University Guide’s ‘student satisfaction’ rankings also put a number of Russell Group law schools at the very bottom, such as: Birmingham (81st), Edinburgh (82nd), King’s College London (80th), UCL (81st) and Manchester (91st) (91st).

Despite this, Russell Group graduates outnumber non-Russell Group law graduates entering the job market by around one to three, but make up an average of 64% of beginners at the 20 largest firms that provide statistics. We worry whether the Russell Group's reputation will be affected.

All the while, Oxbridge’s famed standing leaves its law grads with the (quite desirable) recruiter box-tick of coming from the greatest institutions in the nation. But, it doesn’t imply they have the greatest grades, the best interview style or the finest application form, nor does it indicate they’re the best applicant. We’re not convinced a helpful first box-tick is exactly a free pass.