Women make up majority of solicitors for first time, but inequality continues in senior roles
updated on 20 June 2018
The majority of practising solicitors are women, but men still occupy a disproportionate number of positions at partner level, according to the Law Society’s latest annual statistics report.
Women now make up 50.1% of solicitors, a figure that is set to grow further as women continue to enter the profession in higher numbers than men – including a record high of 64% of new trainees last year.
Gender inequality remains in the senior echelons of the profession, with men making up the majority of solicitors in all age groups from 46-50 upwards. Meanwhile as Legal Futures reports, 60% of solicitors up to nine years post-qualifying experience are women, so it appears that it will take some time more for women to occupy senior roles in equal numbers to men.
The report also shows that the continuous growth of the profession over the last decade shows no signs of stopping, with 139,624 solicitors with practising solicitors recorded in 2017 – up over 2% from the previous year.
Following the landmark news that women make up most solicitors for the first time, Law Society president Joe Egan commented on his organisation’s role in increasing access and equality in the profession. He said: “Every step towards greater equality will benefit businesses, clients and solicitors alike. We are keen to support our members in adopting and shaping best practice so that law firms comply not just with the letter but also with the spirit of the law. Our diversity charter, diversity access scheme, social mobility ambassadors and our fair recruitment toolkit are just some examples of our work to help people succeed in the sector regardless of background.
“An important foundation is transparency, and this includes gender pay gap reporting. The Law Society supports the inclusion of partner pay alongside employee pay data in gender pay gap reporting as an important step towards greater equality. This will give firms a useful benchmark and enable an evidence-based action plan to tackle inequalities.”
