[quote Horace123]**@Globaliser* and @Piggywaspushed* When I started work in the city as a solicitor, A level choices, university attended etc were really very important to your chances of securing a training contract. I have recently stopped doing transactional work and moved to a different part of the firm and I have a lot to do with the juniors now. I can't believe how much things have changed - there are now more routes in to the legal profession than ever before (for example by doing apprenticeships) and this is something the Solicitors Regulation Authority is determined to improve. And most of the more senior practicing lawyers don't actually realise how much has changed in terms of recruitment since they started so although there is still a snobbishness at the top, I think that is decreasing (if you talked to some of our senior partners I think they'd tell you to do 4 "hard" A levels, try for Oxbridge etc without even realising that that is not what our HR department is looking for). I think subject choices are less relevant now (for jobs - obviously they may be important in terms on university entry requirements) although I agree that law at A level will not give you an advantage.
All firms are also under lots of pressure to increase social mobility and not only recruit from private schools, RG universities etc. On the one hand I think this is very commendable. On the other it is a very crude way to try and improve things - the children getting the advantage are those that went to very good state schools in fairly affluent areas. It certainly isn't helping the kids who went to failing schools in deprived areas.
My advice to those kids wanting to go into law is to be able to demonstrate an interest in the subject (whether that is by doing summer placements, volunteering at the citizen's advice bureau, doing any holiday jobs etc). When I read CVs it seems every applicant has amazing results, saved a whale, loves skiing (which always makes me think maybe we shouldn't hire them because they'll constantly want holidays and will probably keep breaking legs and needing time off work - I have to remind myself not to be so grumpy and that I was young once). Being able to show a commitment and interest is what I tend to look for.[/quote]
I agree. As you probably know, it was possible to qualify as a solicitor without going to university by doing an extended period of (paid) articles, and there was a similar route for most professions. This provided a route into the professions for children who could not afford or did not want to go to university. The reintroduction of apprenticeships is a welcome step. On the positive side, the most selective academic schools are all moving towards a means blind admissions policy, where a place will be given on merit, with the school paying the fees where the applicant cannot do so. As I understand it, this is already the policy at St Paul's, Winchester and Eton. The tragedy is that brilliant schools like Godolphin & Latymer, which used to provide a free education to bright children, were forced into the independent sector by the disastrous experiment with comprehensive education, which has had such a negative effect of social mobility.