What Happens After Graduation? The Post-Law School Experiences and Reflections of Aotearoa, New Zealand Law Graduates
| Author | Lynne Taylor,Valerie Sotardi,Ursula Cheer,Erik Brogt,Natalie Baird |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23220058221133653 |
| Published date | 01 January 2023 |
| Date | 01 January 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
What Happens After Graduation?
The Post-Law School Experiences
and Reflections of Aotearoa,
New Zealand Law Graduates
Lynne Taylor1, Valerie Sotardi1, Ursula Cheer1,
Erik Brogt1 and Natalie Baird1
Abstract
From 2014 to 2019, a national, longitudinal study followed a group of self-selected law students en-
rolled at four of the six Aotearoa New Zealand law schools. This paper presents study participants’
self-reported post-law school reflections and experiences. These provide insight as to how participants’
time at law school served them after graduation. Reported data include participants’ work experiences,
future career plans and reflections on their law school experience. The data is unique in that it captures
the postgraduation experiences and reflections of a cohort which includes not only those who are em-
ployed in the legal profession but also those who are not. Key findings are largely positive self-reported
post-law school outcomes for Aotearoa New Zealand law graduates, but that Aotearoa New Zealand
law schools have work to do review and/or improve the delivery of the learning and teaching experi-
ences leading to those outcomes. The reported data give law teachers, law schools and universities
new information to consider and use in course and programme development and reviews. It will also
be of interest to prospective and current law students and their families, employers of law graduates
and the legal profession.
Introduction
From 2014 to 2019, the authors conducted a national, longitudinal study following a group of self-
selected law students enrolled at four of the six Aotearoa New Zealand law schools (the Universities of
Auckland, Canterbury, Waikato and Victoria University of Wellington). That study captured the student
Asian Journal of Legal Education
10(1) 43–62, 2023
© 2022 The West Bengal National
University of Juridical Sciences
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DOI: 10.1177/23220058221133653
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* The authors are all from the University of Canterbury. Lynne Taylor is Professor in the Faculty of Law. Valerie Sotardi is a Senior
Lecturer in the School of Educational Studies and Leadership. Ursula Cheer is a Professor in the Faculty of Law. Erik Brogt is an
Associate Professor in the Office of the Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Academic). Natalie Baird is an associate professor in the
Faculty of Law. We acknowledge, with thanks, funding support received from Ako Aotearoa, and the work of our research assistant,
Maansa Bajaj Prakash
1 University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Corresponding author:
Lynne Taylor, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.
E-mail: lynne.taylor@canterbury.ac.nz
44 Asian Journal of Legal Education 10(1)
view of their law school learning and teaching experiences.2 This paper presents study participants’ self-
reported post-law school reections and experiences. These provide some insight as to how participants’
time at law school served them after graduation. Reported data include participants’ work experiences,
future career plans and reections on their law school experience. The data is unique in that it captures
the postgraduation experiences and reections of a cohort, which includes not only those who are
employed in the legal profession but also those who are not.3 The reported data give law teachers, law
schools and universities new information to consider and use in course and programme development and
reviews. It will also be of interest to prospective and current law students and their families, employers
of law graduates and the legal profession.
The second section provides the context to legal education in Aotearoa New Zealand. The third
section summarizes the longitudinal study and participants’ self-reported teaching and learning experi-
ences. The fourth section reports participants’ post-law school reflections and experiences. Key findings
are largely positive self-reported post-law school outcomes for Aotearoa New Zealand law graduates but
that Aotearoa New Zealand law schools have work to do review and/or improve the delivery of the learn-
ing and teaching experiences leading to those outcomes. The fifth section discusses the results. The sixth
section concludes.
The Context to Aotearoa, New Zealand Legal Education
Aotearoa New Zealand law schools face competing demands affecting the teaching and learning experi-
ences they provide to their students.4 Demands include policies and procedures of the universities within
which law schools sit, government tertiary education strategies and funding mechanisms, and New
Zealand Council of Legal Education (NZCLE) regulations. Other relevant factors are the prior learning
and teaching and experiences of students, student feedback captured through university processes, the
wider economic environment as it affects student enrolments and the nancial position of universities,
higher education and legal education research, and the swift shift to online/hybrid teaching and learning
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Law schools’ responses to these demands provide a signicant part of
the context to legal education in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The internal and external demands on law schools affect the learning and teaching experiences of law
students. At the most basic level, the physical and technological environment available to students is
affected by the competing demands of other units in the universities in which law schools sit and the
financial position of those universities. The financial position of universities is affected by government
funding, research funding, community demographics and the wider economic environment. University
policies also determine law schools’ funding allocation, expected financial return and performance
measures relating to student recruitment, retention and success.
2 Lynne Taylor et al., The Student Experience at New Zealand Law Schools, N.Z. Law Rev. 693 (2018); Lynne Taylor et al., The
Student Experience in Second Year Programmes in New Zealand Law Schools, 27 LegaL educ. Rev. 21 (2017).
3 One previous study captures the voice of junior lawyers: Josh PembeRton, FiRst stePs, the exPeRiences and Retention oF new
ZeaLand’s JunioR LawyeRs (The New Zealand Law Foundation, 2016). Another captures the voice of legal employers of law
graduates: Natalie Baird et al., Employer Perceptions of the Work Readiness of New Zealand Law Graduates: What More Can Law
Schools Do?, 28 N.Z.U.L.R. 54 (2018).
4 Margaret Wilson & ATH Smith, Fifty Years of Legal Education in New Zealand 1963–2013: Where to from Here?, 25 N.Z.U.L.R.
801 (2013). New Zealand law schools are not unique in this respect: see Margaret Thornton, The Challenge for Law Schools of
Satisfying Multiple Masters, 62 aust. uni. Rev. 5 (2020).
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