Non-practising Options
A law degree can be an invaluable general degree. It is highly regarded in many industries and in the community. The skills and knowledge that you learn during a law degree are very transferable and are sought after in the general employment market.
Skills such as those listed below can be very useful in a wide variety of occupations.
- Judgement and diplomacy skills
- Team skills in working constructively with small or large groups to achieve a particular goal
- Interpersonal skills in relating to a client (actual or hypothetical) and in providing advice attuned to that client's needs and interests
- Legal drafting for legislation, and commercial transactions
- Negotiation
- Policy analysis relevant to law reform
- Community legal education
- Transfer of legal knowledge and understanding
- Application of legal knowledge to contemporary social problems
- Advocacy
- Mediation and processes of alternative dispute resolution
- Intercultural communication skills
Not all law graduates go into private practice. In fact many choose to work in other sectors where a law degree is highly valued as illustrated by the following survey results.
- Public sector: 22%
- Private practice: 54%
- Private industry: 20%
- Overseas: 2%
- Further study: 22%
(GradCareers: Hobson, 2008)
If you don't feel that you want to pursue a career as a legal practitioner, there are many opportunities for you. There are non-practicing roles within the legal environment, such as Human Resources in a law firm; and others that are completely non-legal, such as management consulting.
Some options for non-practising roles within a legal environment:
- Human Resources in a law firm
- Legal Recruitment
- Law librarian
- Publishing, legal particularly
- Legal academia
- Judges Associate
The Law Institute of Victoria has a useful directory of legal organisations in which law graduates may seek work.
Non-legal career options where a law degree is very useful:
- Government departments (listen to presentation by DFAT)
- Regulatory authorities
- Management consulting
- Investment banking
- Financial Services companies
- Journalism
- General management
- Politics
- Aid and charitable agencies (a directory of organisations is on the Volunteering section of this website.)
Basically, a law degree opens many opportunities for you!
If you are confused about your career direction, a consultation with the Careers Counsellor may be useful. Feel free to make an appointment on law-careers@unimelb.edu.au.
Further information:
- Government - Victorian and Federal
- Government departments that have graduate programs
- Corporations that recruit law graduates into their graduate programs
- Graduate Opportunities
- GradCareers
- Employment pages of this website
- LSS Equality Handbook 2009