Local government law is the least popular career option for law undergraduates, with less than 1% of 805 students questioned saying they would choose to work for a local authority, a survey has revealed.

The research found that the respondents’ primary reason for choosing to study law was an ‘interest in the subject matter’ and not because their family or school teachers wanted them to do so. The least important factor behind their choice was a lawyer in the family. The most popular career destination (47% of respondents)­ was to be a solicitor or barrister in private practice. Some 70% of these preferred to become solicitors rather than try to become a barrister by sitting the aptitude test for the Bar Professional Training Course.

Some 13% of those questioned had not made up their minds what they wanted to do, and 8% said that they would consider a career as an in-house lawyer in commerce or industry. Respondents said that they believed their ethnicity, gender, social class and secondary schooling were of little importance to prospective employers.

The UK Centre for Legal Education commissioned the research, which was carried out by Hardee Consulting. The research can be found here.