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Challenges law students face when trying to break into the profession
For many law students, the journey to securing their first role in the legal profession is filled with numerous challenges. Here, a current law student sheds light on the obstacles currently faced by those trying to break into the competitive industry.
Grace Robbie
Speaking on a recent episode of The Protégé Podcast, Amelia Daou, a final-year law student at Deakin University, addressed the various challenges that current law students face in pursuing entry-level positions within the legal profession.
Daou shared her difficulties in securing her first role in the legal profession, attributing these challenges to a lack of industry experience and connections, which is a common situation among law students.
“When I got to the end of the second year of my degree, I want[ed] to start working in the profession, and I struggled to find jobs and have my applications progress, and I realised that it was tough for me to have any sort of competitive applications because I didn’t have any prior experience,” she said.
“Not having any connections within the legal industry that could help me to get a foot in the door or help me get some work experience or an internship was really challenging.”
One challenge Daou identified, which presents a significant obstacle for law students attempting to enter the profession, is their lack of relevant industry experience. This paradoxical situation can trap students in a frustrating cycle of repetition.
“I had to source all those opportunities on my own, and it’s quite difficult because if you don’t have any prior experience, it’s very hard to be a competitive applicant in those roles.
“Even in internships, like I’ve struggled to get internships because I don’t have any prior experience, but it’s like you need to get the role to get the experience. So it’s a bit of a double-edged sword,” she said.
Despite her background in the hospitality industry providing her with valuable transferable skills, Daou expressed that law firms often do not recognise the relevance of these skills to legal roles.
“It’s hard because my background and my work experience is in hospitality, which is a completely different profession [from] the legal one.
“I’ve got all this experience, but it’s hard to kind of structure your applications to say, oh, these are the transferable skills, and it’s just hard to have a competitive application when you just simply don’t,” she said.
While universities provide some support for law students regarding the various opportunities available in the legal profession, Daou believes that additional efforts are necessary to better equip students for the realities of entering a “saturated” job market.
“It’s just tricky to navigate, and whilst university is a good support for you, they have careers fairs and job postings and whatnot, I don’t feel as if law students are kind of aware or well equipped of the realities and the challenges of trying to find a job in the industry because the industry is quite saturated as well,” she said.
Although challenges persist, Daou underscores that this struggle is not an isolated experience; many other law students face similar difficulties concurrently.
“It’s really important to let other law students know that they’re not alone in this situation, and if they’re facing rejection letters and they’re feeling as if they’re not progressing with their career, it’s just important for them to know that there are other ways to progress in the profession, and they don’t have to go down the traditional pathways,” she said.
