Post-graduate law degrees nice but not essential

A post-graduate legal qualification is not seen as a major factor in being successful in the legal employment market, the New Zealand Law Society’s magazine LawTalk says.

An article in the latest issue of LawTalk says while post-graduate legal education is “nice to have”, it is certainly not essential in being a contender for legal employment.

Ben Traynor of Niche Recruiting Specialists says that 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.

LawTalk says the top 10% of law 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.

Niche Recruiting says while many lawyers do go on to complete their LLM, they generally tend to do this once they have some solid legal experience. Securing relevant legal work experience after completing an LLB is seen as more beneficial than gaining more qualifications.

Several law firms around New Zealand say a number of factors come into hiring. Gisborne law firm Woodward Chrisp says work experience is valued more than further academic education, while Dunedin firm Webb Farry says it is not as simple as drawing black and white comparisons between education and experience.

© New Zealand Law Society 2008