The percentage of lawyers with private educations climbs even higher to 37 per cent for lawyers at large law firms with more than 50 partners. However, the SRA study also found than more than half (53 per cent) of those in the legal profession were the first generation in their family to attend university, a figure that rises to 60 per cent for those lawyers working at partner level.  

Women and BAME lawyers

Women have achieved near parity with men in terms of representation within the profession, making up 47 per cent of the lawyers included in the SRA study. However, despite making up more than half the total headcount, women account for only 33 per cent of law firm partners. This number drops even further to just 27 per cent when looking only at large firms with more than 50 lawyers in their partnership. Results for black and minority ethnic (BAME) lawyers were similarly mixed. While BAME individuals made up 18 per cent of the SRA’s lawyer headcount, this number incorporates an underrepresentation of black lawyers (2 per cent) compared to the wider UK population (3 per cent), and a statistical overrepresentation (12 per cent) of lawyers from Asian backgrounds compared to the wider population (7 per cent). All BAME groups were less likely to hold partner positions at law firms, with representation dropping as low as 1 per cent for black partners at large firms. 

Sources: SRA; Legal Cheek