Law for dummies?

News has come from across the Atlantic that the academic standard of lawyers entering the profession is dropping. At least that appeared to be the case last year, when the pass rate for many bar exams was lowered by up to 15 per cent. As trainee recruitment comes to an end for another year, my experiences of UK law student talent are far from those of our American cousins.

Around 50,000 students take the bar exam in the US each year. The exam is created by a team of volunteer academics, lawyers, and judges and is a two-day test, taking into account written answers as well as multiple choice questions. Unlike the system here, these two days can make or break a legal career at the end of a three-year, US$120,000 course. Although re-sits may be taken, at a cost of upwards of $800, second-attempts are not acceptable to some law firms.

Suggestions have been made that the bar exam itself was to blame for worse than expected results, necessitating the lower pass mark, an allegation fiercely defended by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which sets the test each year. The pressure of a single exam was further exacerbated last year, when there were problems with the software used in the assessment. The additional distress of this resulted in a class action against the software maker and a $90 settlement for each member of the class. Unfortunately, that $90 is a drop in the ocean when your career hinges on the exam results.

With a continuing demand for exemplary GCSE and A-Level grades when assessing the future potential of trainees, we perhaps place too much emphasis on exam results. But with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) considering a standard of competence test for future lawyers, alongside alternative practical pathways, there may be an opportunity to consider all attributes of a future solicitor, beyond simply academic.

This year, fewer people applied to law schools in the US than in the past 30 years, forcing the schools to sustain their funding by admitting less able students. This may be due to the statistics around the contracting legal market. In the past eight years, the US legal services sector has reduced by more than 50,000 jobs.

Like the UK, this isn't reflected in the number of law school places made available by private law schools. Indeed, the number of graduates from university law courses in the UK has increased for the past five consecutive years, reaching a high of 16,120 in summer last year (a 2.7 per cent increase on 2013). The number of training contracts has continued to fall, however, with the number of places registered in the last recorded 12-month period to 31 July 2014 standing at 5,001, a 6 per cent drop from the previous year.

The volume of candidates available for selection by firms means more than ever that only the most eligible should make the grade. This should provide reassurance to consumers of UK legal services, who will recognise that high standards are, or should be, maintained. The pressure again falls to firms to ensure that their own, sometimes novel, methods of selection meet the challenges of a career in law in the 21st century and will continue to keep the UK as the leader in legal expertise.

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

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