The recently appointed supreme court judge Jonathan Sumption QC, who was an Oxford history don before becoming a barrister, once said that studying law at university "narrows the mind and blunts curiosity".
Judging by the rise in popularity of the graduate diploma in law (GDL) – the year-long postgraduate course that enables students to convert to law after an undergraduate degree in another discipline – since its introduction in 1975, many members of the profession would appear to agree with him.
Of course, it was easier to explore new educational horizons back when university was free. Now, with tuition fees about to treble to an annual £9,000, it takes serious resources. No wonder the mood towards learning has become rather more utilitarian. Speak to A-level students these days and many will tell you that they want to get university out of the way as quickly as possible.
Still, an enthusiasm to gain a breadth of experience persists among wannabe lawyers – not least because it is perceived as a way of standing out to law firms and barristers' chambers in a tough graduate job market. Claire Watson, a student with ambitions to become a solicitor who is studying for her A-levels at Hartlepool sixth-form college, sums up the dilemma faced by her generation. "On one hand, it's important to me that I minimise the amount of time I spend at university racking up debt; on the other, I've heard law firms favour recruits with additional skills."
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