WBH Legal has scrapped plans for a new Adelaide-based law firm called Adlawgroup which would have given recent graduates the ‘unique opportunity’ to gain two years’ experience working in the firm. The only catch? Working for Adlawgroup would have cost graduates a $22,000 ‘participation fee’.

An ‘elitist solution’

WBH Legal has previously defended the Adlawgroup program amid heavy criticism, arguing that paid-for positions are an effective way to help deal with the glut of Australian law graduates amid a shortage of entry-level jobs. However, the firm conceded the program’s ‘elitist’ connotations when announcing its decision to scrap Adlawgroup: ‘While there were a significant number of applicants willing to pay the participation fee, the partners recognise that this carried the unpalatable consequence creating an elitist solution to the fundamental problem of too many graduates and too few opportunities in law.’ The Law Society of Australia has welcomed the firm’s decision.

Sources: Australasian Lawyer; Daily Mail