More solicitors in practice but training contract numbers have fallen, according to Law Soc report

The number of practising solicitors in England and Wales has grown in the last year while the number of registered training contracts has fallen slightly, the Law Society’s annual statistics report has revealed.

The report shows that as of 31 July 2014 there were 130,382 practising solicitors in England and Wales compared to 127,676 on 31 July 2013 - a rise of around 2%. The number of solicitors working in both private practice and in house has increased, with the number of solicitors in private practice increasing by 4% despite the number of registered private practice firms decreasing for the fourth consecutive year. The Law Society has said that the rise in solicitor numbers can therefore largely be attributed to an increase hiring among big firms.

However, the number of training contracts registered in the 12 months to July 2014 fell 6% from the year before.

The report also revealed that gender equality in terms of the proportion of women solicitors to men has increased slightly in the last year. Women now make up 48.5% of solicitors, compared with 47.7% in 2013.

The Law Society’s chief executive, Catherine Dixon, said: "It is encouraging that the legal services market is back in the business of hiring after a rocky few years, although we know that some areas such as publicly-funded legal advice are likely to remain challenging. The legal landscape is changing and diversity is improving, but there is still a gender and ethnicity gap for partner positions. Through our diversity and inclusion charter, and by working closely with law firms, we aim to support the profession to share best practice and demonstrate that good diversity, inclusion and social mobility policies actually give a competitive advantage."

This way for the executive summary of this year’s annual statistics report.