University of Sussex
Browse
LS Article Davies March 17.pdf (954.9 kB)

Educational background and access to legal academia

Download (954.9 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 07:08 authored by Mark DaviesMark Davies
The focus of this article is upon educational background of academic lawyers in England and Wales and the extent to which qualifications from certain institutions may be seen as acting as a proxy for social class. In recent years higher educational background and socio-economic background have been significant topics of research relating to entry to the legal professions and judiciary in England and Wales. There is a relative absence of such research relating to academic lawyers. The research discussed in this article aims to close that gap. The article argues that critiques relating to the elite nature of the traditional legal professions in terms of educational background have parallels within the academic legal community, evidenced by a dominance of those educated at Cambridge, Oxford and other Russell Group institutions, with relatively lower proportions of graduates from other sectors, most notably the post-1992 universities. The article further argues that economic hurdles to entry to an academic legal career are significantly higher than those for other law related careers, potentially exacerbating issues of socio-economic exclusion. The conclusion drawn is that law schools should engage proactively with measures to expand opportunities for entrants into the academic legal community from candidates from a much wider range of educational backgrounds.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Legal Studies

ISSN

0261-3875

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

1

Volume

38

Page range

120-146

Department affiliated with

  • Law Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-07-12

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-03-13

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-07-12

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC