Privately educated solicitors make up disproportionately high percentage of workforce at corporate firms
updated on 14 February 2018
People who attended state schools are still underrepresented in the legal profession, with criminal firms employing the highest proportion of state-educated solicitors and corporate firms the lowest, research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) reveals.
Although only just under 7% of the UK population are educated privately, 44% of solicitors at corporate firms attended fee-paying schools. In contrast, state-educated solicitors make up 76% of those working at firms which mainly handle litigation, with the figure rising slightly to 77% among solicitors employed by firms that mainly do criminal cases. The figures are fairly reliable, as the SRA surveyed 180,000 lawyers across some 9,000 firms, with 92% of UK firms responding.
Elsewhere, the survey found that at the senior end of the solicitors’ profession, only 33% of partners are women. In contrast, the number of BAME lawyers (including solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives) has risen from 14% of all UK lawyers in 2014 to 21% in 2017, which is higher than the percentage of BAME people in the UK working population as a whole.
Meanwhile, Legal Futures reports that 3% of lawyers responded that they are LGBT, compared to official figures that state that 2% of the UK population is LGBT. However, LGBT rights charity Stonewall estimates that the real figure is between 5-7%.
Finally, 3% of lawyers said that they had a disability, a much lower figure than the government’s estimate that 10% of the UK workforce as a whole have a disability.
Paul Philip, chief executive of the SRA, said: “I know we will all welcome the progress that is clearly being made in many areas. But there is much more to do to achieve a truly diverse profession that reflects the community it serves, encourages people to access the legal services they need and offers opportunities for the brightest and best from every background. The changes we are making to the training of solicitors, the growing and varied initiatives in the sector to support people into the profession and the leadership shown by many firms will all help. Our new report on the benefits of diversity makes it clear that diversity is good for business and well as for the public, the profession and wider society. I think the report will help law firms to consider what more they can do to realise those business benefits, as well as doing the right thing.”
