Record Numbers of Lawyers Registered With SRA

| General

In the legal profession as everybody is aware practising and non-practising solicitors are enrolled onto the prestigious roll of solicitors. A recent Report released by the Law Society had disclosed some fascinating figures in relation to those registered on the prestigious roll of solicitors. The organisers of the report found that the volume of lawyers published on the roll had reached a high watermark of in excess of two hundred thousand lawyers.

Our Survey Said… 

The results of a recent report were illuminating in terms of the way it disclosed the following statistics:

  • the numbers of those achieving graduate status had inclined consistently throughout the previous ten year period
  • on the evidence of the figures published this is just short of nineteen thousand in around 2021 and was previously around fifteen thousand in 2011
  • the current nineteen thousand number was examined in a bit more granular detail and it was found that just over eighty per cent of this section of society accomplished the highest level of degrees in the first class and upper second level
  • fifty per cent of the lawyers enlisted on the prestigious roll of solicitors was comprised of those who had been granted access to the roll in the recent past
  • the volume of female qualified lawyers with practising certificates steadily moves on an upward trajectory
  • in 2021 in excess of fifty per cent of lawyers were female and this contrasted starkly with the situation around nine years ago when only forty seven percent of female lawyers were female 
  • in terms of female lawyers who had achieved the accolade of partner the report discovered that just shy of nine thousand of the entire number of the thirty thousand partners currently operating in the legal profession
  • the amounts of those lawyers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds was incrementally rising. In total just under twenty thousand lawyers emanating from an Asian background were registered and approximately fifteen thousand or seventy five per cent of those added to the roll had practising certificates. This was an apparent significant rise from just short of nineteen thousand lawyers and approximately thirteen thousand possessing certificates permitting them to practice law in 2020. 
  • twenty five per cent of lawyers making up the entire legal profession occupy the in-house legal industry and
  • interestingly there was a one per cent decline in the number of providers of legal services in the private sector in the jurisdiction of England and Wales in 2021

 

Way Forward? 

Commenting upon the publication of these statistics, the Law Society President Stephanie Boyce was of the belief that increased leg work is required from those influential persons within the profession who have the ambition of escalating, enlarging and growing the volumes of those lawyers emanating from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. Mrs Boyce also asserted that far more progressive action is required from thought leaders to assist those persons emanating from lower socio-economic circumstances. She also made the observation that the representation of females is relatively low and more assistance is required to help more women access the roll of solicitors.

In this regard the wider legal profession, providers of legal services and in-house legal departments need to be taking the statistics contained in this report seriously. They need to be identifying areas for improvement and doing all they reasonably can do to provide opportunities for those persons from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and females in the workplace. This may provide a more representative legal profession and improve these statistics in later years.

ASSESSING FIRMS

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THE ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN USING THE FOLLOWING SOURCES 

[SOURCE 1] Fouzder, Monidipa – Number of solicitors on the roll reaches record high – Law Society Gazette– 22 September 2022 - Number of solicitors on the roll reaches record high | News | Law Gazette

[SOURCE 2] Mayo, Nick – Number of solicitors on the roll reaches record high – Yourinfoblog – 30 September 2022 - Number of solicitors on the roll reaches record high – The Law Society - Your Info Blog

[SOURCE 3] Rose, Neil – Number of solicitors on the roll hits 200,000 for the first time – Legal Futures - 26 October 2021 – Number of solicitors on the roll hits 200,000 for first time - Legal Futures

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