Giving guidance to the future of the profession

It's often said that your university days are the best of your life. A fresh sense of freedom; determining who you will be for the rest of your life; experimenting with your beliefs; making new friends; inspirational tutors; and a renewed enthusiasm for learning. Does any of that ring a distant bell?

Of course, none of this comes for free anymore. There are rising university fees, working before, during, and after your course to fund living expenses (or balancing the cost of living away with the very different experience of living at home), and the inevitable difficulty in securing a job at the end to pay back the student loans and IOUs that have amassed.

For wannabe lawyers, there are even more things to consider. Is a law degree the preferred route to becoming a solicitor? Should I wait for a training contract before committing to the legal practice course? How do I study, work, and get legal experience at the same time (while still finding time to sleep)? These were just a few of the questions I was asked when I returned to my university to share some of my experiences with students.

I hadn't been back to my old stomping ground in Hull for almost 15 years and, although everything felt familiar, much has changed. Far from being a university held hostage to government cuts, it seems to be thriving, like the students themselves.

The law faculty's home - named after social reformer, campaigner for workers' rights, and anti-slavery champion William Wilberforce - is the physical embodiment for what has happened across the campus, its brutalist concrete exterior and dark wood interior transformed into a bright and illuminated space, complete with coffee shop and Wi-Fi.

I was there with a number of law school alumni to talk about life in the legal profession. After some practical insights into trainee recruitment and more than a few cautionary tales from Chris White of Aspiring Solicitors, the panel invited questions.

The profession and routes to qualification have changed so much in the past decade that my personal experiences are of little use. However, my graduate recruitment role has given me the ideal insight into what firms want.

I'll not leave it quite so long to return to Hull next time, but with more change afoot, my guidance might be less in demand in the coming years. The Solicitors Regulation Authority's proposals for a solicitors qualifying examination (SQE) have been announced, with a consultation to follow.

No longer requiring any academic qualification or practical training, the SQE will be a two-part test of 'functioning legal knowledge', and practical legal skills, the latter assessed in part by a role-play with 'standardised clients'.

While the aim is to provide more flexible routes to the profession, the likelihood is that little may change, with many law firms having shown their preference for doing things the way they have always been done.

Opening access to the profession is always important, but with university student numbers remaining stubbornly high, and enthusiasm for a career in law showing no signs of waning, the SQE may remove the bottleneck of entry, but not the oversupply of aspiring solicitors.

Kevin Poulter is SJ's editor at large and a legal director at Bircham Dyson Bell @kevinpoulter

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