Diversity within law firms “slowly” improving, with smaller firms more diverse than larger ones

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has found that diversity within law firms is continuing to slowly improve year-on-year, but there is “still more to do”.

Findings published by the SRA following its two-yearly collection of diversity data from 9,276 law firms reveal that there has been an increase in the proportion of women in the profession, an increase in lawyers of Black, Asian or minority ethnic origin, and a slight decrease in the proportion of those from a “privileged” background.

The proportion of women in the profession has risen to 53% from 52% in 2021, and from 48% in 2015, the data revealed. The SRA noted that although the seniority gap between women at partner and solicitor level “remains significant”, it has narrowed slightly.

Women are less well represented at the most senior level of the largest firms - 32% of equity partners across all firms are women compared to 28% in firms with 50 or more partners.

Looking at ethnicity, the SRA found that 19% of lawyers working across all firms are of Black, Asian or minority ethnic origin, up from 18% in 2021 and 14% in 2015.

Overall, 17% of partners are from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, but there is a “significantly” higher proportion of partners working in one-partner firms (36%) than any other firm size, the data revealed.

“This proportion decreases as the firm size increases, with just 8% of partners from these backgrounds in the largest firms (with 50+ partners)”, said the SRA.

The report notes that although the proportion of those from a ‘privileged’ background is high in the legal sector, this is “falling slowly”.

The proportion of lawyers with parents from a ‘professional’ background fell from 60% in 2019 to 57% in 2023. Further, the proportion of lawyers who attended fee paying / independent schools has decreased, from 23% in 2015 to 21% in 2023.

The SRA found that the largest firms have the greatest proportion of lawyers from a professional socio-economic background (65%) and those who went to independent / fee-paying schools (28%).

The report states that there “continues to be an under-representation” of those reporting they had a disability within the sector - just 6% of lawyers, up from 5% in 2021 - compared to 16% of the wider UK working population.

Researchers noted this might suggest potential under-reporting.

Paul Philip, SRA Chief Executive said: “A diverse and inclusive legal profession which reflects the wider community is not only good for the public, but good for legal businesses themselves. It benefits everyone to have the most talented people from all backgrounds able to work and progress in the legal sector. Things are slowly improving, but there is still more to do.”

This week (11 December), the SRA also published its latest gender pay gap and ethnicity pay gap reports, which recorded that the SRA’s median pay gap between Black, Asian and ethnic minority and White staff reduced from 12.7 per cent in 2022 to 7.6 per cent in 2023.

“While this is heading in the right direction, this is still wider than the ONS [Office of National Statistics] UK-wide average of 2.3 per cent”, warned the regulator.

The gender pay gap report showed that the SRA’s median pay gap between male and female staff was 9.3% - a decrease of 1.9 percentage points since 2022. This remains narrower than the ONS figure of a UK-wide average gap of 14.9 per cent.

Philip said: “It important that we, and others in the legal sector, publish our ethnicity pay gap in order to shine a light on progress in this area.

“In terms of both gender and ethnicity, we have good diversity in our overall workforce, but these figures show we still have some way to go. In particular we need greater diversity in senior roles, particularly when it comes to ethnicity. We have initiatives in place to help us to do that, with the aim of further reducing our pay gaps.”

Lottie Winson