The A Level results are out this week and some Russell Group universities – but not Oxford – will be requiring the new A * grade.
Many who went to public schools (and for that, read ‘private’ schools) are likely to be recipients of the new A* grade. It is likely that there will be far more A* star grades in the private than public sector of secondary education. It is unlikely, now that we have a Coalition government where Gove and Willetts can demonstrate their particular expertise, that sleep will be lost by government on the widening gap between public and private education.
Sadly, as Clarkson observed, some students will be getting results which make up words like DUDE and BEEF – but one thing is certain – their options will be 
limited. There will be fewer university places this year than last and a Vice Chancellor from a university I have never heard of (Worcester) has popped up to say that there will be fewer places.
The reason I have never heard of The University of Worcester is not negligence on my part – indeed, quite the opposite; for the fact is that the Law (as with most fields) is a competitive arena. There aren’t any prizes for third place. The magic circle firms and leading sets of Chambers may waffle on about ‘diversity’ but it does not take much effort to research the fact that the majority of their intake is still Oxford, Cambridge – and, the top Russell group universities. It would be dishonest to suggest that a student with a degree from a lesser university stands an equal chance with a student from Oxbridge who also went to a good private school. They may well stand a chance – but I would argue that it won’t be an equal chance in the top firms or Chambers. I suspect that even the vocational law schools providing the LPC and BVC will soon be indulging in their own snobbery and ranking. Some say they already are – which seems to me to be a bit ‘premature’.
BPP and the College of Law both lead the market for the LPC and what is now the BPTC (Lay readers note!: one year professional courses to qualify as a solicitor or barrister, respectively, taken after the academic law degree stage) and both have degree awarding powers. I suspect their degrees will be less highly regarded by employers – and therefore by students – for some time to come. BPP is now a university. It is many things – but it is not a Russell group university and may well never achieve such status. We shall see.
I can’t quite see where all the new law students are going to work. The economy is still fragile. Growth in law firms is nascent. People are working longer and are retiring later. Where are the jobs in solicitors firms and commerce going to come from? Government is cutting back. The Bar is not exactly overloaded with work in some areas at the moment and is under tremendous costs pressures. There is talk of QCs sitting around doing not very much at all.
All this is good news of course for universities who will not struggle to fill their Law places (and even better news for providers of wonderfully expensive LPC and BPTC courses – around the £15,1000 mark for fees alone for the BPTC ) and while students in other disciplines can go off to Holland, Europe, the States, Canada and Australia and find courses conducted in English, this is not an option for students wishing to study English law.
One thing is for sure – the people who run law schools are not remotely interested in my observations on this and while I do get a fairly wide readership of about 80,000 unique readers when I last looked at stats for the blog and Insite Law, podcasts et al, there is a wonderful human phenomenon called ‘Hope’ and a less wonderful phenomenon that warnings of gloom apply only to ‘other readers’. I admire tenacity. Everyone who wants to be a lawyer should go for it – but knowing the reality of the market and that disappointment may well follow if they don’t make the cut. Unfortunately,for those who do not make the cut, the next generation in August 2011 may be brighter and better qualified. The next generation is only one year behind you. And why should I care to even spend my time writing about it? It isn’t going to effect me. Maybe I shouldn’t bother and go an do something more useful with what is left of my life?! I have a feeling that I’ll be doing a bit more tilting at windmills.
Here is an article from The Independent this morning….
Class of 2010 faces higher hurdles for college places and uncertain job market
PS: It wouldn’t surprise me if some law school Dean pops up to confirm that all is well in Britain again, the economy is on the move – business has never been better for them and demand is ‘farkin marvellous… lovely jubbly etc etc’ because their law school is so highly regarded. We shall see. I shall keep an eye on The Lawyer and Legal Week. They tend to get a fair number of reports from the law schools these days. We used to call them press releases.
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I made the mistake of going to The Dail Mail online…. I’ll try not to do it again…
Charon QC 