I too served five years’ articles on leaving school at 17. Only one of the three partners in the firm to which I was articled had a university degree. On qualifying in 1954, I joined a respected, successful medium-sized firm in Birmingham – none of whose partners had been to university.
I sat the Law Society’s Final Examination in November 1953 and was among the 189 successful candidates out of 415 who took the exam, requiring a pass rate of 45%. It is a reasonable assumption that among the failures were university graduates. The Law Society’s final was a searching and demanding examination.
Although now 84 and no longer practising, I never felt at any disadvantage without a university degree.
David Henson, Edgbaston, Birmingham
