The founder of the financial education provider Wealthbrite explores the unspoken class issue stifling progression in the legal sector.

What if the thing holding you back from all the promise that a career in law has to offer isn’t how good you are, but where you came from?

In 2025 Wealthbrite released a UK-first report on the link between socioeconomic status and financial wellbeing.

The results showed a £10,000 class pay gap across the profession. But the story goes deeper than disparities in income alone.

Starting disadvantage clings on while climbing the ranks

Those from a socially mobile background were found to enter the profession at a financial disadvantage, for example having lower levels of savings and struggling to keep up with bills. So far, so expected.

However, even when those individuals earn over six figures they continue to struggle with the same issues at a higher rate than their more privileged peers.

Evidence also showed lawyers from lower socioeconomic (LSE) backgrounds having fewer trusted resources to turn to in times of need. This lack of “social scaffolding” reflects a reported sense of unease and loneliness when it comes to financial challenges.

Even when those individuals earn over six figures they continue to struggle with the same issues at a higher rate than their more privileged peers.

The data also showed LSE talent investing at a lower level than their more privileged peers.

This behaviour suggests a reluctance to take risks with money or behave in ways that may be unfamiliar based on family upbringing or lived experience.

This sentiment was echoed by contributors to Wealthbrite’s Legal Sector data, with one equity partner Matthew Durward-Thomas at Akin, sharing, “I think my working class background means that my appetite for financial risk is a lot lower. Ultimately, I’m worried that everything might evaporate before my eyes.

“There is a constant concern in the back of my mind that if everything goes wrong tomorrow, I will need some money to fall back on.”

The hidden cost to firms

Wealthbrite’s research shows that 83 per cent of people in law worry about money at least once a month. Trending data over the last three years shows financial stress rising, against an economic backdrop of disruption and uncertainty.

When financial pressure is felt intently it shapes a person’s susceptibility to error, mistakes and whether they feel able to speak up.

Wealthbrite’s data showed that those who were highly stressed were twice as likely to struggle with decision making at work as those who weren’t.

When financial pressure is felt intently it shapes a person’s susceptibility to error, mistakes and whether they feel able to speak up.

This is compounded when people lack access to trusted financial guidance and support.

While family remains the primary source of financial guidance for the profession, LSE talent were twice as likely to say they had no-one to turn to.

Strikingly, 75 per cent of people said they would not tell an employer if they were dealing with financial difficulties.

Financial stress can express itself in a myriad of ways but in the last 12 months we have heard repeatedly from firms of issues that are often early warning signs of financial difficulties:

• Requests for salary advance

• Poor attendance at the office

• Timesheet irregularities

• Taking on work outside of expertise

• Unexpected attrition

The implications when things go wrong are clear: personal financial pressure affects performance and decision-making, and in a regulated profession that carries extra weight.

Our data suggests that LSE talent is a cohort more vulnerable to financial stress and its associated consequences.

The case for earlier intervention

Socioeconomic background continues to shape experience, long after people enter the law.

Layered on top is a culture in law where money remains difficult to talk about. Salary secrecy, assumptions of knowledge and perceptions of wealth create a sense everyone should “have it sorted”.

Left unaddressed, these conditions can perpetuate disparities and lead to unequal outcomes.

The Legal Services Act places a statutory duty on the profession to encourage a diverse and effective legal sector.

In a series of roundtables hosted by Wealthbrite, firms expressed concern that LSE talent was opting out of partnership, due to the unknown consequences of partnership debt and self-employment.

For all firms, and especially those with public targets on social mobility, this should be a clear call to action.

The Legal Services Act places a statutory duty on the profession to encourage a diverse and effective legal sector. Meeting that duty means addressing the conditions that shape progression, including the financial confidence needed to reach the top.

It’s time to put the “economics” back into socio-economic status

Firms need to enable financial confidence to develop, rather than assume it exists. This

includes:

• Creating space for conversations about money, to reduce stigma.

• Building financial competence as a professional skill, not a personal extra.

• Providing access to independent financial education and trusted crisis support.

• Training managers and champions to spot the signs of problem behaviours.

This is not about solving individual financial problems. It is about recognising and addressing the systemic conditions that shape behaviour and outcomes.

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