Aspiring lawyers value work/life balance over international career
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has topped a table of ‘most attractive’ employers for law students, seeing off competition from the City’s high-paying, perk-filled magic circle elite.
Ranked behind list topper the CPS, the agency which oversees criminal prosecutions across England and Wales, was Clifford Chance (3rd), Slaughter and May (4th), Allen & Overy (5th) and Linklaters (9th). The final member of the elite fivesome, Freshfields, placed 18th.
The Big Four accountancy giants, who continue to make inroads into the legal profession, also made the list which was compiled using the responses of almost 3,000 law students. Most appealing was PwC (20th), followed by EY (33rd), Deloitte (36th) and KPMG (37th).
Google scooped 2nd place on the list, while the Civil Service, BBC and Apple finished 6th, 7th and 8th, respectively. You can see a full breakdown of the results below:
The marketing agency which compiled the data, Universum, found that the 39,900 UK students surveyed (including the 3,000 wannabe lawyers) expected a monthly salary of £2,271 — or £27,252 a year. A legal trainee at the CPS in London can expect to receive a salary of between £24,500 to £28,500, while Legal Cheek’s Firms Most List shows their counterparts at the magic circle can start on northwards of £45,000.
That said, a generational shift in career goals could explain the CPS’s winning charm. The research suggests students prioritise work/life balance, job security and serving a greater good over having an international career, working independently and being a technical expert.