Professor Carolyn Evans, dean of Melbourne University law school, says last year "was the worst that I'd seen". Students are emerging from the brutal slog of law school into what industry elders see as the worst job market in decades. Naturally, the job market for lawyers is being squeezed tight as a result and salaries are a taking a shave.īut while sympathy may not come easily, the people facing perhaps the hardest fall are not fat cats in fancy cars but the young guns - the law graduates pouring out of Australian universities at such a rate that a degree once promising security and relative riches now comes laden with fear and uncertainty. Set fees are in the old-school racking up of money in six-minute increments is on the way out. Exorbitant fees - traditionally billed by lawyers who toiled attached to a dollar-spinning clock - are under scrutiny. Corporate clients are looking afresh at their legal bills, and asking: "What's the risk? Do we really need a lawyer? Can we do it in-house?", says Abrahams. Law firms are merging and tightening their belts to meet the challenge, which has been worsened by lingering affects of the global financial crisis. But the reality is, it's not coming back. "There's this general feeling among certain lawyers that we've seen this before, that it's all cyclical and it's all going to come back. "Robin Hood of the legal world": Kate Horman Credit:Peter Rae