Following our recent look at the challenges facing law graduates, it is becoming apparent that an increase in the flow of students to the law has become something of a flood. BPP Law School has seen a 23 per cent jump in the number of students enrolling on its London-based law conversion course, with a 13 per cent increase nationally.

The College of Law has had a 20 per cent increase, Nottingham Law School has seen a 10 per cent jump in its GDL intake, and Kaplan Law School has seen its numbers double. The Bristol Institute of Legal Practice has reported a 21 per cent hike in students enrolling on its part-time GDL

Nigel Savage chief executive of the College of Law said: “I saw the same thing happen in the last recession, whereby graduates from other sectors such as banking and finance decided to convert to law.”

So, even though the huge salaries that bankers have got used to in the last few years might be out of reach, at least there is some sense of security in the law. Right???

This is clearly the perception. However even if law firms haven’t cut back on trainee recruitment yet the pessimism of managing partners for the future may indicate dwindling opportunities. Confidence in the future of the legal sector has fallen sharply over the past 12 months, new research has revealed.

The independent study, compiled on behalf of accountancy firm Smith & Williamson, suggests that just 50% of the UK’s leading firms are either ‘very confident’ or ‘reasonably confident’ in the business outlook for the coming year. The figure for 2007 was 91%.

What does this mean for the profession? Only time will tell but common sense would dictate that with more people entering the profession and confidence in the future beginning to wane it doesn’t sound like a good recipe.

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