Choosing a career in law
Keep researching the firms you are interested in, and review the alternative types of organisations and roles for legal practitioners.
Career pathways
Use your university
First-hand firm experience
Admission to legal practice
Academic requirements
Practical legal training requirements
Find out more
Career pathways
Law is a popular general degree, which appeals to those who don't necessarily want to practise. After finishing your law degree you need to find out about the range of other career opportunities you have as a law graduate. Reviewing all the options will allow you to make an informed choice about pursuing your career as a lawyer.
Use your university
If you are a final-year student, you should now have received plenty of information from your university about careers in law, especially those in private practice. But even if you feel you are verging on information overload, the more information the better — keep researching the firms you are interested in, and review the alternative types of organisations and roles for legal practitioners.
First-hand firm experience
It is now common for law students to gain practical experience during periods of work experience known as seasonal clerkships. The increasingly popular practice of screening potential employees through these clerkships has benefits for the firms who hire graduates, but also for the students who earn these posts. They provide on-the-ground experience of the practices and culture common to most firms, which can come as a shock to new graduates: the fast pace, the client focus, not to mention the infamous administration of billing.
Admission to legal practice
Although Australian law graduates work in a number of different jurisdictions where requirements differ slightly, there is a uniform adherence to a twofold system of legal education. Budding lawyers must meet academic requirements in order to gain admission, but they must also undertake a period of practical legal training.
Academic requirements
In order to gain admission to legal practice, graduates require a recognised degree in law, usually of three years or equivalent in length. In some jurisdictions, there are requirements for a certain level of expertise in specific subject areas.
To gain admission to legal practice you must have passed subjects covering key areas of knowledge, collectively known as the Priestley 11. These are: administrative law, civil procedure, company law, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and procedures, equity, evidence, professional conduct, property, and torts.
Practical legal training requirements
Once you have decided to qualify, the decision remains about how to gain the practical training required for admission. The requisite practical skill-level is achieved through one of two kinds of approved practical legal training programs.
Graduates undertake either:
- an period of internship or work experience in a law firm; or
- an approved practical legal training course.
Approved practical legal training courses are offered in most parts of the country. The development and the popularity of these courses suggest the increasing recognition of the advantages of a more structured approach to practical legal training. Many in the profession have argued that graduates are not all that well served by ad-hoc on-the-job training devised by the firms that employ them for the traditional ‘articles’ style apprenticeship.
This recognition has not only prompted alternative methods of practical legal training in the form of award courses, but it is also in the process of changing the way the apprenticeships themselves work. The 'traineeship' program, which includes prescribed, mandatory training for indentured graduates to ensure a minimum level of practical training and national consistency has now superseded the articles system.
FIND OUT MORE
Law Council of Australia, www.lawcouncil.asn.au