The number of solicitors qualified to work in England and Wales has rocketed over the past 30 years, according to new figures from the Law Society. The number holding certificates - which excludes retired lawyers and those no longer following a legal career - are at nearly 118,000, up 36% on ten years ago.
The population of England and Wales has only grown at 10% over the same period.
The report, published as a PDF, gives a comprehensive view of being a solicitor today, including:
• Women accounted for approaching half of all working solicitors, a significant shift in the profile of the profession since 2000 when almost two-thirds were men
• Nearly three-quarters of solicitors work in private practice and a significant number, 20,245, in financial firms in the City
• 58% of women gained first or upper second class degrees in law courses compared to 54.2% for men
• Nearly half of all male solicitors in private practive (48.1%) are partners in law firms whereas only 21.1.% of women achieve that level
The geographic split is weighted disproportionately toward the City of London - there are 1,760 solicitors for every 1,000 residents there. But apart from that anomaly, London dominates.
It is also becoming a more ethnically varied profession. Around 11.1% of practising solicitors were from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, up from 10.6% the previous year - and a big change from 2001.
We've extracted the data from the PDFs for you - what can you do with it?
Data summary
| Region | Total number of solicitors | Number of solicitors per 1,000 population | Black, min ethnic, % | White Euro, % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City London | 20,245 | 1,760.43 | 10 | 78 |
| Rest of inner London | 23,543 | 7.72 | 19 | 67 |
| Greater London | 43,788 | 9.33 | 15 | 72 |
| South East | 12,112 | 1.44 | 8 | 83 |
| Eastern | 7,330 | 1.27 | 15 | 74 |
| South West | 5,660 | 1.08 | 2 | 90 |
| West Midlands | 7,847 | 1.44 | 14 | 78 |
| East Midlands | 4,466 | 1.00 | 10 | 82 |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | 7,652 | 1.46 | 8 | 85 |
| North West | 12,293 | 1.78 | 7 | 85 |
| North East | 3,087 | 1.19 | 3 | 90 |
| Wales | 3,683 | 1.23 | 3 | 89 |
| Outside England/Wales | 6,602 | 15 | 61 | |
| Unknown | 3,344 | 5 | 86 | |
| Total | 117,862 | 2.15 | 11 | 78 |
|
SOURCE: LAW SOCIETY |
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