Oxbridge 'dominates magic circle' - graduate jobs

New research has shown around a third of law graduates employed at the magic circle firms over the last two years have studied at Oxford or Cambridge.

The magic circle is an informal term used to describe collectively what are considered to be either the five, or possibly six, leading London-based law firms, all of which employ primarily solicitors.

A study carried out by Legal Week found 38% of magic circle recruits were Oxbridge graduates.

In other City firms, a fifth of law graduates studied at either of the universities, while at regional firms, the figure was just 6%.

The survey showed almost half (48%) of law graduates recruited to Slaughter and May studied at Oxbridge, and at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer it was 44%.

Between September 2008 and March 2010, 65% of magic circle graduate trainees studied at a university ranked by the Times newspaper as being in the top 10 in the UK.

Just 11.7% graduated from universities ranked outside of the top 20 in the country according to the report.

In contrast, at regional law firms, almost half (48%) of graduate trainees studied at institutions ranked outside the top 20.