Articles From the Team

Where is the solicitors’ profession today - where will it be tomorrow?

I love numbers and statistics; the argument goes that they can be manipulated, misinterpreted and are very dangerous to the unwary who are unwilling to apply their own critical thinking. However, what I do find is if you put all your internal biases to one side and go right to the very root of what the statistics show, in their pure form, in one snapshot of time, they help you understand that momentary situation.

I`d like to share with you the pure numbers from the SRA Annual Statistics Report 2016/2017 – this report describes the size and composition of the solicitors’ profession. I will not pass any comment in the body of the article but I`m very interested in yours.

What trends can you see, what do you think it means and how is this snapshot in time already changing?

Statistics:

In 2016-17, 25,155 UK students applied to study law at undergraduate level in England and Wales, out of whom 17,855 UK students were accepted on to courses.

9,120 overseas students applied to study law at undergraduate level in England and Wales, out of whom 4,910 overseas students were accepted on to courses.

Of the UK students accepted onto courses:

12,060 (67.5 per cent) are female and 5,795 (32.5 per cent) are male 6,495 (36.4 per cent) are from minority ethnic groups Of the ethnic minorities, 4,290 (66 per cent) are female and 2205 (34 per cent) are male

Of the overseas students accepted onto course:

3,025 (61.6 per cent) are female and 1,885 (38.4 per cent) are male

How does this differ from current solicitors on the roll?

As of 31 July 2016, there are 175,160 solicitors on the roll.

Of these solicitors on the roll:

87,150 (49.8 per cent) are men and 88,010 (50.2 per cent) are women 25,003 (14.3 per cent) solicitors are from minority ethnic groups (based on the 16.3% of admissions gathered where ethnicity is known).

In 2016, 136,176 solicitors held current practising certificates.

Of these solicitors holding practising certificates:

67,393 (49.5 per cent) are held by women and 68,783 (50.5 per cent) are held by men 19,145 (14.1 per cent) are from minority ethnic groups (based on the 16% of admissions gathered where ethnicity is known) Of the ethnic minorities, 10,886(56.8 per cent) are female and 8,259 (43.2 per cent) are male

Source: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/Law-careers/Becoming-a-solicitor/Entry-trends/

Let me know your thoughts below and perhaps I`ll share a few of my own...

For more information contact Mike Huggins at BCL Legal.