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Further legal education can ‘fundamentally’ help your career
New data from The College of Law recently revealed how valuable further education can be, from monetary benefits to providing new opportunities and driving personal and professional growth.
Lauren Croft
Released earlier this month, The College of Law’s Australian Legal Salary Survey 2024 was conducted in late 2023 and early 2024 and comprises responses from more than 1,300 lawyers from across the country.
The report also revealed that in terms of flexible work arrangements, government agencies were the most flexible (82 per cent), followed by corporates at 72 per cent, non-for-profits (NFPs) at 62 per cent, and law firms “lagging” at 45 per cent, as previously reported by Lawyers Weekly.
While the report noted that lawyers holding an MBA are uncommon, lawyers who do hold an MBA or a master of laws earned higher annual average base salaries across every type of organisation. Those with an MBA had an average salary of $151,039 compared to $99,494 for a bachelor of laws.
The College of Law chief executive Neville Carter said that this was an interesting trend in the profession.
“An interesting thread throughout the responses was the impact of further education on increasing remuneration, such as a master of laws,” he said.
“What was also interesting was the fact only 17 per cent of respondents said, ‘further education’ was an available benefit, and on average, 70 per cent of respondents said further education did not factor in their salary or promotion reviews.”
In law firms, respondents reported receiving on average $30,267 more, $101,300 more annually in corporate organisations, $16,428 more annually in government roles, and $8,389 more in NFPs.
In conversation with Lawyers Weekly, The College of Law chief commercial officer Angie Zandstra emphasised that there are numerous ways further education can positively impact a professional’s value.
“Investing in further accreditation builds confidence, not just in terms of professional skills, but in terms of knowing your value and giving you the confidence to say what you are worth. This helps you negotiate your salary and career progression,” she said.
“In my experience, every time I have invested in further study it has led to new opportunities, essentially leapfrogging my career and I have had the confidence to embrace those new opportunities.”
Further education also offers a clear pathway for those wanting to move into a new area of law and assists those who have had time out from the workforce.
“Further education shows commitment, and I can say personally that additional study allowed me to enter a new area of law and a specialised firm earlier in my career.
“I have also seen amongst those who have studied at the College that the demonstration of personal commitment, combined with the confidence that comes with building knowledge and skills, has fundamentally helped those returning to the workforce and has helped them to re-enter at an appropriate level,” Zandstra added.
“For those working in family law for example, if you want to become accredited it requires five years of experience, but some people wait much longer before even attempting this. It is the combination of education and experience that has helped lawyers achieve this earlier, and the combination creates credibility and attracts clients. And finally, networking, when you study you grow your network, studying illustrates reliability and can lead to peer referrals.”
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Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
