Law firms’ preferred universities

Eight out of ten trainees at the the UK’s leading law firms went to Russell Group universities, according to a new survey of 2,300 trainees published exclusively in Student Law today.

Oxbridge graduates alone made up a quarter of the London trainees and, overall, accounted for more trainees (18 per cent) than those trainees (14 per cent) from the 45 non-Russell Group universities reflected in the survey put together.

The figures were compiled by Chambers Student Guide from interviews with trainees at 124 leading firms — which together offer some half the training contracts available nationally each year — between 2013 and 2015.

The survey comes as the legal profession is under pressure to improve diversity — but it does contain some positives: the range of universities feeding the top firms has grown by 14 per cent compared with a similar Chambers survey three years ago, with non-Russell Group university graduates making up one in four trainees at national and regional firms.

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Opening up access to the profession, though, has to start before university. The Sutton Trust wants more law firms to sign up to initiatives such as Prime and Pathways to Law to encourage more disadvantaged sixth-formers to consider law as a career and go to top universities.

Law firms will “of course” look to the top universities to recruit, says trust chairman Sir Peter Lampl, but that means making sure that those gaining degrees from them come from more diverse backgrounds.

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