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Report 2006:4 R

Law graduates - programmes and labour market

In principle there are two kinds of programmes in law. The traditional programmes leading to the award of an Ll.B. provide the professional qualifications required in the legal system. Today the majority of law graduates in Sweden have this qualification. For about a decade there have also been programmes in law that focus on the practice of law outside the legal system.

Seen in the light of the general expansion of higher education, it is possible to say that it has had only a moderate impact on programmes in law. In 2004 almost 1,300 degrees in law were awarded and of these two-thirds where traditional LL.B. degrees and a third master´s or other degrees at bachelor´s level.

Today there are 27,000 professionally active lawyers. The labour market situation is relatively positive for the group as a whole. But conditions are somewhat more difficult for those who have qualified recently. Short-term forecasts suggest that there will be no shortage of lawyers for the next few years, not least where younger graduates are concerned. Long-term forecasts indicate increasing demand for legal qualifications but also suggest that this can be satisfied and that there may also be a certain surplus. The current situation, taken together with the forecasts about the future, offers no reason to alter the capacity of programmes.

The employers we have spoken to also confirm that the supply of law graduates today is adequate. They are also satisfied with the qualifications that these graduates have obtained. Programmes in law are considered to offer a broad and stable platform for work both in the strictly legal sphere and outside it. Law graduates are felt to possess sound academic skills, in other words the ability to identify, analyse and structure problems or material. They are also described as being good at expressing themselves and presenting cases and they were said to be painstaking.

Representatives of the higher education institutions said during interviews that they felt they offered programmes that are appropriate for a broad labour market. That they focus to some extent on the subjects that are mainly relevant for the legal system was considered to be functional for other vocational areas as well. By and large they wanted to provide their students with thorough legal knowledge combined with analytical and methodical ways of thinking. The students we met were satisfied with the teaching they had been given, although some of them desired more practical sessions in which they could apply their theoretical knowledge. However, labour market difficulties cause them no little concern.

Swedish National Agency for Higher Education  Visting address: Luntmakargatan 13  Box 7851, 103 99 Stockholm
Phone: 08-563 085 00  Fax: 08-563 085 50  Email: hsv@hsv.se