Post-graduate law degrees and the job market

Post-graduate legal education is “nice to have” but certainly not essential in being a contender in the legal employment market.

This is according to Ben Traynor of Niche Recruiting Specialists (formerly Law Staff), who says post-graduate legal education is not a huge factor for the majority of their clients with valuable experience being much preferred.

“In the current market employers are definitely choosing experience over education unless they are specifically looking for a graduate. Even then the emphasis is on their LLB grade average rather than any post-graduate qualifications,” he says.

The top 10% of graduates will usually be snapped up by top-tier firms around the country and a large proportion of these will not have a post-graduate degree, Mr Traynor says.

“Certain government departments prefer post-graduate degrees and Masters but they would be in the minority. Again, I would like to stress how important it is for graduates to have a strong grade average in their LLB papers,” he says.

Many lawyers do go on to complete their LLM, but they generally tend to do this once they have some solid legal experience under their belt, according to Niche Recruiting.

“I believe it is much more beneficial for graduates to gain relevant legal work experience once they complete their LLB rather than gaining more qualifications. It’s all about securing that all-important first role,” Mr Traynor says.

In smaller cities the demand is not as great for highly specialised lawyers such as those with post-graduate education.

Woodward Chrisp in Gisborne values work experience more than further academic education, says Practice Manager Michelle England.

“We are in a small town so there isn’t so much need for highly specialised lawyers, we need generalists.

“We have 25 staff and only one has any level of post-graduate education,” she says.

Although Woodward Chrisp supports training staff, Ms England says that after the employee is trained further they would probably move out of Gisborne because what they’re studying probably wouldn’t be of use to the firm.

There are quite a number of factors that come into hiring and it is not as simple as drawing black and white comparisons between education or experience, says James Lovelock of Webb Farry in Dunedin (32 staff members).

“It never comes down to a straightout comparison of academic qualifications versus experience. It’s all in the mix.

“What a post-graduate education shows us is more the work ethic and the approach of seeking achievement,” he says.

Both experience and education are equally important, says Jo Calder, National Human Resources Manager at Buddle Findlay.

“Collectively the legal field is a highly competitive environment. It is a package deal. We see some incredible talented candidates that are very well rounded in terms of their achievements.

People are acutely aware the enormous value of doing any further education, Ms Calder says.

“The wider proportion of our graduate employees come to us for a few years, then choose to head overseas to gain some international experience and then come back to us when they return. That’s the trend we typically see,” she says.

This article was published in LawTalk 786, 2 December 2011, page 1.