Almost a third of trainee lawyers at elite Magic Circle law firms educated at Oxbridge
Almost a third of lawyers at the UK’s elite Magic Circle law firms attended Oxford or Cambridge universities, new data published today shows.
The research shows 76 per cent of trainee lawyers at the UK’s leading 139 law firms are Oxbridge and Russell Group graduates.
The figures were compiled by the Chambers Student Guide from interviews with 2,500 trainee lawyers over the last three years.
According to the data, 31.4 per cent of trainee lawyers at London’s elite Magic Circle firms – Linkaters, Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer – went to Oxbridge.
This is despite Oxbridge students making up less than one per cent of each year’s graduating class.
Russell Group universities outside Oxbridge made up 46.7 per cent of Magic Circle trainees, 13.1 per cent came from other UK institutions and 8.8 per cent were educated overseas.
Those winning a hotly contested training contract at a Magic Circle firm can expect to be richly rewarded, with all five firms increasing compensation for newly qualified lawyers to over £100,000 this summer.
US law firms in London drew 24.4 per cent of their trainees from Oxbridge, with 50 per cent coming from the rest of the Russell Group, 16.5 per cent coming from other UK institutions and nine per cent coming from overseas.
Pay at the top US firms can outstrip the Magic Circle with leading firms such as Kirkland & Ellis and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy paying first-year lawyers up to $190,000 (£151,000).
Read more: Freshfields increases partner pay to £1.84m
Sal Francis Morton, senior research analyst at Chambers Student Guide, said: “Law firms lock their gaze on graduates from these prestigious universities, knowing they don’t have to look far for the brightest and most driven candidates.
“Since employability is a factor in a university’s status and funding, this is a convenient relationship for both the firms and the universities, so it’s hard to break.”
Oxford supplied the most trainee lawyers in 2016-18, with Cambridge in second place, followed by Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, Exeter and Warwick.
Overseas students were the top earners, according to the research, with an average newly qualified salary of £88,384. London School of Economics and the School of Oriental and African Studies were next, with graduates earning an average of £86,885 and £80,972 respectively.
Oxfords graduates earned an average £71,120, King’s College London graduates £74,512, University College London graduates £72,814 and Cambridge graduates £72,457.