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News
Solicitors’ profession becoming more diverse, but elitism remains at senior levels
updated on 18 October 2019
The solicitors’ profession is slowly becoming more diverse, while the number of students starting law degrees continues to rise, according to the Law Society’s latest annual statistics report.
The proportion of solicitors from BAME backgrounds increased by 2% over 2017-18, which, as reported in the Law Gazette, the Law Society has claimed is “a cause for celebration”. BAME solicitors now make up just under a sixth of the profession.
However, elitism continues to be a problem at law firms, with the latest figures showing that gender and ethnicity gaps at senior levels remain persistent. For example, over 40% of male solicitors in private practice are partners at their firm, but under 20% of women are partners.
At junior levels, women continue to outnumber men – 53% of newly qualified solicitors in 2017-18 were women.
Meanwhile, 24,475 students started a law degree in 2017-18, ensuring that competition for training contracts and pupillages will remain fierce in the years ahead.
