Legal bucks trend for cuts as number of council solicitors holds steady

The number of practising solicitors in local government remained broadly the same in 2015, it has emerged, with legal departments yet to suffer the major staff cuts imposed elsewhere in the sector.

The Law Society’s Annual Statistical Report (ASR), published this week, shows that there were 4,538 PC holders in local government as at 31 July 2015.

This was down 2% on the 4,640 PC holders employed by the sector at 31 July 2014, but still higher than the 4,467 employed as at 31 July 2013.

The figures from this year’s report come against a backdrop of continued high demand for local authority legal services.

A survey of 100 heads of legal carried out for Local Government Lawyer’s Legal Department of the Future (www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/ldotf) research report, which was published in February this year, found that 81% of respondents were predicting demand to grow by at least 5% a year (and some 44% forecast it would grow by 10%-plus).

As well as citing the impact of new legislation and challenges to service cuts, heads of legal pointed to the increased reliance on legal by client departments as senior officers leave the organisation.

The Law Society's ASR reveals that there were 3,126 female solicitors and 1,412 male solicitors in local government. In the profession as a whole 51.2% of practising solicitors are men and 48.8% are women.

According to the report there were 81 trainee placements in local government, 1.5% of the total. This was six placements more than at 31 July 2014, but nine fewer than at 31 July 2013.

 Other findings from the ASR include:

• As at 31 July 2015 there were 133,367 solicitors with practising certificates, 2.3% higher than at 31 July 2014. PC holders within local government account for 3.4% of the total.
• Representation of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic groups among practising solicitors stood at 15.5%, more than doubling since 2000.
• Solicitors working in-house made up 21.6% of practising solicitors in 2015, up from 15.0% in 2000. The Law Society predicted that this proportion would grow further over the coming years.
• The number of private practice firms operating in England and Wales fell to 9,403 in 2015, which is just over 1,000 fewer firms than existed at a peak five years ago.
• More than 5,000 commerce and industry organisations employed practising solicitors in 2015, an increase of 4.4% on a year earlier.

Law Society chief executive Catherine Dixon commented: "The legal sector contributes £25.7bn to the economy each year, with net exports now at £3.6bn per annum, so the growth in the sector indicated by our research is great news for the UK.

“The significant increase in the number of commercial organisations employing practising solicitors in the 12 months to 31 July 2015 reflects the central role of General Counsel and in-house teams as business advisors who drive innovation and shape organisational risk culture. However, we know that in some areas, such as publicly-funded legal advice, recruitment is far more challenging. 

"Continued consolidation in the market is evidenced by a rise in the number of solicitors working in private practice alongside a further fall in the number of private practice firms, which now stands at 1,000 fewer than five years ago."