"I've been applying for roles like crazy. I would take whatever I can get and hopefully get a grad position in a year or two."

Ms Higgins is one of many law students and graduates doing whatever they can to secure a paying job in a competitive market in law.

"There's heaps of pressure to get internships and as much experience as possible before your degree ends. Even legal secretary positions are getting competitive," Alexandra Jones, 22, a fourth-year law student doing a double degree in media at University of NSW, said.

Ms Jones is doing a part-time marketing role for LegalVision while looking for a job in law.

South Australia student Vishal Jaymish Odhavji, 24, who has almost finished a combined law, finance and accounting degree, said he was scouring the country for legal jobs. He has years of experience in his family's accountancy firm.

"You have to have contacts. Without that it's very hard to get a step in the door," he said.

Contacts key


Networks are more important than ever for entry into the ultra-competitive, elite firms and many graduates have little choice now but to abandon hopes of a career in a traditional law firm and look to other industries for work.

Graduates are turning to their second degree and looking for jobs outside law altogether or alternative legal service providers because of the dearth of job opportunities in traditional law firms.

"Many law students are now seeking to obtain legal experience as early as possible in their degree through paralegal, internships, law clerk and legal research roles," Anthony Lieu, managing director of online legal jobs website Beyond Law, said.

Katherine Higgins says education should be about the experience but the competitiveness is cut-throat. Supplied

Among the website postings were jobs from accountancy firms that law students were pouncing on.

There were about 20 new roles a week on the site, which were viewed by more than 3000 desperate graduate job seekers, he said. The numbers were in line with the overall decline in jobs for graduates across all industries.

"An increasing number are moving overseas to New York, London, Singapore to do internships and hopefully get sponsorship or using their alternate double degrees and seeking work in non-legal environments."

Law firms and new legal services providers are providing different opportunities for the masses of students and unemployed graduates. LawAdvisor, another online provider that links clients with lawyers, has created a digital internship program, where recruits gain experience acting as research assistants to qualified lawyers on the site.


Law students can also gain work experience with Norton Rose Fulbright's insurance team, with the added benefit of working from home and choosing their own hours.

The recruits undertake tasks for the firm's insurance practice, including researching, drafting chronologies, summaries of evidence and summaries of pleadings, with everything being vetted before a final product is sent to a client.

Alternative routes

The pilot program is extremely competitive, with students hand-picked after intensive interviews, testing and training. Almost 190 responses were received in three days for the five advertised positions, the firm said.

Cost pressure and increased regulatory compliance burdens were leading more companies to appoint in-house lawyers for the first time, Lisa Gazis, managing director at legal search firm Mahlab said. In-house teams and solo counsel were also employing graduates and law students to help complete huge volumes of work under ever-increasing cost pressure.

"Some are meeting those challenges by hiring law students. For the students it gives them a mix of commercial and legal experience," she said.

Marie Iskander, a former vice-president of the Australian Law Students' Association, said she had been selective about the types of roles she applied for and was not convinced New Law could provide the experience students needed. "They have to be established providers and able to provide adequate training to be a lawyer," she said.

"I'm looking for workplaces that have a supportive culture, but currently the market is highly competitive."