If you think that studying for an A level in law sounds like a good way to demonstrate your commitment to the subject and profession, you may want to think again.

Law A level may sound impressive and professional, but it seems that universities and employers do not always regard it as the best preparation.

Debate about the value of the qualification has been raging since a report from Policy Exchange, a thinktank, revealed that some law schools were admitting only a handful of students with the qualification.

Policy Exchange obtained, under the Freedom of Information Act, data showing that only two students accepted into the department of law at Queen’s University Belfast in 2007 had taken A-level law. At University College London only six students had A-level law and at Durham University the figure was 18.

Although the London School of Economics highlights law as a “non-preferred” A-level subject, Policy Exchange suggests that other highly selective universities hold the same view privately but are failing to make this clear in public.

“We feel strongly that universities have the right to make their own decisions about whether a subject provides the best preparation for a particular course or not. But this lack of transparency is unacceptable,” it says in its report The Hard Truth about Soft Subjects.

It points out that 96 per cent of students studying A-level law in 2006-07 were at comprehensive schools and argues that subject choice has become “yet another hurdle” facing students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Law schools deny that there is a lack of transparency and say that the figures do not take into account the number of applicants with law A level, or their attainment levels.

Tom Allen, head of law at Durham University, where 1,500 applicants vie for 177 places and candidates must sit the law national admissions test (LNAT), says: “We value all A levels equally. In fact, nearly 20 per cent of our current intake of UK students have A-level law.”

The school of law at Queen’s says that because few schools in Northern Ireland offer the subject, only 14 students with A-level law applied for its course.

However, Hugh Collins, head of the law department at the LSE, is clear that his university prefers “really serious” A levels. Students who have studied A-level law can find the transition to degree level law confusing, he says. “It is hard to pin down, but we adopt a rather more philosophical and critical approach, as you would expect. What they have learnt as ‘truths’, we teach them are, in fact, rather more complicated and controversial issues. It doesn’t seem to help them to have good knowledge of the conventional view.”

He adds: “I’ve marked A-level law scripts and the students do turn in a decent result. I just think if they have got a choice there is no reason to do law at school.”

Others, such as the University of Nottingham, say that traditional A-level subjects may be given a greater weight and that students with non-traditional subjects may need a higher LNAT score.

Dame Hazel Genn, dean of law at UCL, says that if a student takes law A level thinking that it will impress admissions tutors, then they probably have the “wrong idea”.

Younger universities appear to be more supportive. Sheila Byrne, admissions tutor for the law school at Anglia Ruskin, argues that the attitude of some older institutions is out of date. “When law first became an A level, it was taught by non-lawyers and perhaps it didn’t have a very good reputation academically. I don’t think that’s true today. Usually it will be taught by law graduates or practitioners.”

Nicola Aries, principal lecturer at Kingston University’s law school, believes the only danger is that students can be “a bit overconfident” on arrival.

So what do firms think?

Deborah Dalgleish, head of UK trainee recruitment at Freshfields, says that there are no A-level subjects that the firm will not look at, but she has noticed examples of students achieving better grades in less traditional subjects. “You might see someone who has done law and media studies, say, and English and history, and there is often a tendency for people to get higher grades on the law and the media studies,” she says. “There are also a number of people we recruit and interview who have done so-called ‘soft’ subjects who perform extremely well.”

Claire Cherrington, head of graduate recruitment and development at Linklaters, says: “We do see people from quite far-reaching universities and, therefore, quite a lot with subjects such as A-level law. It is not going to stop someone getting a job.

“What I would say to students is, if they are looking at particular universities, they should check with the university whether there are subjects they would like them to take.”

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