Ten percent of women feel totally unrepresented in the legal profession, study by The University of Law reveals

One in four people still assume a legal professional will be male, despite figures highlighting that women make up a larger proportion of lawyers, according to new research from The University of Law (ULaw).

ULaw’s recent study of 2,000 UK respondents revealed that only 4% of men imagine a lawyer to be female, while 42% said they picture someone working in law to be male. And almost half of respondents said they automatically pictured someone white when asked to imagine a typical lawyer.

Meanwhile, only 25% of women lawyers believe they are fully represented within the profession, while one in 10 women don’t feel represented in the profession at all.

While the findings from the survey highlight some incredibly disturbing presumptions, director of equality, diversity and inclusion at ULaw Patrick Johnson explains the purpose behind the research: “This research has highlighted British people’s perceptions of those working in the legal industry, however, this year’s theme for International Women’s Day is ‘Choose to Challenge’, so we wanted to challenge these perceptions and encourage others to do the same.

“We want to demonstrate that a career in the legal industry is open to anyone, no matter their background. While there’s always room for progress and improvement in the industry, looking at our current students provides a promising picture for the future of our profession. Among our current cohort, 77% of undergraduate and 67% of our postgraduate students are female.

“We’re committed to impacting change in our industry. We’re investing in initiatives such as our upcoming Diversity Matters events and working with leaders in equality and diversity to continue amplifying voices that need to be heard.”