Law schools are predicting a recruitment boom as the credit crunch prompts more students to choose the safe haven of the legal profession in these turbulent times. It seems that for some at least the rafts of reported redundancies are not enough to put them off. Apparently law courses are picking up students who once would have gone into banking and finance, guess they noticed the mounting job losses in that field…

According to The Times , BPP Law School says that recruitment has spiked in recent months, particularly on its Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), while Manchester Metropolitan University says that its GDL is oversubscribed. “Students see law as a safe haven in difficult times,” Peter Crisp, chief executive of BPP, says. “A legal qualification is internationally recognised and opens many career doors.”

The advice continues…

“The lawyer who will be able to deal with whatever the fallout is over the next two, three, ten years, will not be the lawyer who picks insolvency as an option in his or her undergraduate course instead of corporate finance, it will be the student who gets a really good, sound, deep training in the lawyer’s tools,” Endicott says. “Frankly, that means a BA in law is better than a one-year conversion course.”

Clare Harris, associate director of legal resourcing at Lovells, advises students aiming for a big City firm to choose the most academically rigorous options. “Get the best grades you can — that’s the thing that will reassure employers more than anything.” Thanks for that; invaluable!

Again, according to The Times as yet, law schools say there is no evidence that firms are cutting back on recruitment. But Emma Seagreaves, director of legal and professional studies at the University of Huddersfield, says that fewer small to medium-sized firms are sponsoring students.

Fees and potential gap-year opportunities are also at the forefront of the agenda as students tighten their purse strings and look for ways to see out the predicted recession.

Despite the boom in law school applicants, according to a new survey by the Times/College of Law (click for full details) half of all law students are worried about job prospects when they qualify and would take a trainee position anywhere in Britain.

The survey, in its fifth year, shows how students are feeling the pinch, concerns about careers and the tougher competition they face.

On a political front Students are unimpressed by the Government’s management of the economy and there has been a big shift in the percentage that would vote Conservative (41% up from 30%) if an election were held tomorrow. However, the survey was in September, before the recent banking crisis and Gordon Brown’s intervention.

Economising has apparently hit most areas of the student budget but only a quarter are cutting down on the booze…

That should ease the pain.

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