Further to the article of 24 September at Gazette Online by Ian Wimbush, I write to express my astonishment at the writer’s statement in his final paragraph: ‘That, with the recent consolidation and the increase in law students, tends to paint a rather more optimistic picture for the future of the English legal market than was propounded by the justice secretary back in 2010.’

I fail to understand how an increase in the already overwhelming number of out-of-work law graduates would in any way be beneficial to the English justice system. I recently attended an assessment day for a three-month paralegal post. There were 50 or so applicants for a couple of posts, all of whom had the qualifications necessary not just to become a paralegal, but also to commence a training contract. I would like it explained to me why the legal profession is happy for the course providers to continue to churn out far more Legal Practice Course graduates than there are jobs.

I would also like it explained to me why, with such a great excess of law graduates out there, firms are able to pay for their support staff to become fully trained lawyers to the total detriment of those who have chosen/been advised to go down the traditional path, have fully completed their studies, and are now seeking work that is just not there.

I have a 2:1 LLB (Hons) degree from Lancaster University, an LLM in corporate law and I have passed the LPC. I have been organising legal work placements since I was 15 years of age, so much so that there is too much to put on to my CV and yet keep it condensed to two A4 pages. Very soon, I will be forced to get a job that I could have got without having undertaken seven years of hard work and burdening myself with debt.

Do we really need any more law students, let alone an increase? I have been told by numerous careers advisers that the legal profession likes to have a large pool of potential candidates to choose from. How can the Law Society justify this when absolutely no assistance is given to those who are not picked from this massive pool?

Ben Hope, Salford