Women In Law Statistics 2024

Data collected in Summer 2023 by the Solicitor Regulation Authority (SRA) has revealed that the proportion of women working in UK law firms has risen to 53%. This is a welcome increase that demonstrates that the industry is moving in the right direction and that recent efforts are paying dividends in terms of attracting new female entrants to the profession.

Senior positions have yet to reap the benefits

Unfortunately, when you examine the data more closely, evidence that the gender gap remains becomes apparent. Although the majority of industry entrants are female, women remain under-represented in senior roles with only 32% of full-equity partners being women.?

There are many suggestions as to why this is the case, with the most likely being that societal and patriarchal norms still place unfair expectations on women to leave work or reduce their working hours to raise a family, thereby disadvantaging them from achieving the levels of seniority of which they are capable.

Proportion of women partners based on law firm size

Although women are under-represented at partner level in firms of all sizes, there has been some very steady progress towards achieving a better gender balance with firms of between 2 and 50 partners all reporting an increase in women lawyers in the workforce since 2021.

Areas of law in which women remain under-represented

Women are particularly under-represented in criminal and corporate law, with only 38% and 47% of the lawyers in these legal specialities being female. Interestingly, in contrast, women are over-represented in litigation, property, and private client work and it has been reported that 74% of support staff for UK law firms are women.

Location plays a part

The data revealed an interesting nugget of information. Namely that the lawyer gender balance in Wales is better than that in England. 57% of lawyers working in Wales are women while 41% of partners in Welsh law firms are women. This contrasts with 53% and 37% respectively in England.

Caring responsibilities may have an impact

35% of the lawyers who responded to the SRA's most recent diversity data capture exercise specified that they have childcare responsibilities while 8% care for elderly or disabled relatives. It is likely that many are managing to balance their work and their caring responsibilities due to the increased availability of flexible working patterns, and that these may also be responsible for the increased number of women entrants to the industry.

While it is pleasing that greater delivery flexibility may be contributing to an increased number of women entrants, the fact remains that many are unable to achieve the seniority that they are capable of, particularly once they have had children, and it is essential that measures are implemented to remove the "glass ceiling" that may block their progress up the career ladder.

There is a possibility that the government's move to offer funded childcare from the age of 9 months old by 2025 will have an impact, with more female lawyers then being able to return to demanding roles and deliver in line with their capabilities.?

Other vital improvements that will improve law firm demographics include greater transparency in hiring, implementing a culture of meritocracy and continuing to offer flexible working opportunities to encourage working parents to remain in the legal profession.

If you are an experienced female lawyer looking for your next role or a law firm recruiter wishing to improve the diversity of your business' workforce, please contact Interlink Recruitment today. We can help you to create a powerful impact.?

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