opinions on the university attended for law

[j-awad11]

Just wondering what people on here think about which university people attend for Law in terms of future opportunities.
From my POV, I don't really care for prestige, I think that the G08 unis are good, but they have that G08 title because of prestige, and I think that non-G08 universities can be good as well, and that you can do as much having graduated from there as you would attending a more prestigious university. I understand there are many Law schools now, but do you think that the university a job applicant attended is high on the list no matter what the grades (i.e. does going to a G08 give them an advantage), or do employers prefer someone who did well at whichever university they attended.
What do you guys think?

[brenden]

I think the consensus from previous discussions have been "both". As in, if everything is exactly equal between two applicants but one of them went to Go8, that person would [likely] get the job. If the other applicant had better grades, then that gives them a better chance obviously. So, really, going to a Go8 uni does give you an advantage, but good grades also gives you an advantage. (And more than that, relevant work experience gives you an even bigger advantage... allegedly).

[ninwa]

I've actually seen quite a few law firm job ads which explicitly say "applicants must be from Monash or UoM". I guess the job market is so bad at the moment that they're not even trying to be subtle anymore.

I had a couple of the links saved because I thought it was amusing but they're inactive now, I'll put them up if I find them again

edit: of course once you get a few years of PQE (post-qualification experience) under your belt your alma mater becomes irrelevant, but to get your foot in the door in the first place is extremely difficult nowadays and you need all the advantages you can get

[HossRyams]

I met a senior solicitor from Corrs Chamber Westgarth (mid-tier) who said quite explicitly "to be blunt, we only hire from Monash or Melbourne". He also said that having slightly lower grades from either of those universities was more acceptable because they acknowledge that they are the more competitive schools.

At the firm, the split between ex-Monash students and ex-Melbourne students was quite even among the graduate lawyers. I did meet one girl who graduated from Deakin, but she said she only got a position because she literally topped her year at law school. So honestly, for more competitive jobs it's almost a prerequisite that you attended a GO8 university unless you rank in the top few of your university.

Also, from talking to lawyers from Clayton Utz, there appears to a really heavy emphasis on grades for entering the top firms after graduation. My friend (graduated from Monash with first class honours, initially got into La Trobe after VCE and then transferred) actually got an offer from Minter Ellison as well even though he spelt their firm's name wrong multiple times in his cover letter (lol), and he's confident it was just because they saw his HD average. He also mentioned that grades were often a pre-requisite for whether your CV is even really assessed. If you meet the benchmark, then they will look at your CV and consider you for an interview.

I hope that didn't sound discouraging, but it seems tough for us
Anyway, hope that helps

Edit: typo. I don't think I've ever posted something on AN without a typo.....