It is clear that this increase will alter the nature and face of our profession. It has been suggested that the increase in competition would force prices for legal services down. It has also been suggested that this increase would benefit the Australian community at large by forcing legal graduates into non-traditional areas of employment. I can understand the universities' and academics' motivations for creating and expanding their law schools. There is no doubt that academics and universities would both benefit from the increase in the number of law students.
More students equates to more jobs for academics.
Further, this gain is complemented by the relatively cheap cost associated with establishing and maintaining law schools. Additionally, law schools provide some status to universities, well at least in the short term. When faced with the issue of graduate oversupply and the possible reduction in employment conditions, academics are quick to suggest that most law students do not intend to practise law and that other areas of employment for legal graduates are rapidly developing. What I have not previously been able to understand, is why our profession is willing to accept the systematic devaluation of the lawyers' role. I would suggest that swamping our industry with law graduates is a very crude method of reducing the costs of legal services.