The interactive dashboard below can be used to compare lawyer representation across demographic groups in the United Kingdom and the United States. Select a Demographic – women lawyers, men lawyers, underrepresented racial/ethnic (URE) lawyers, white lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, or lawyers from non-professional socio-economic backgrounds – to view their stats in the chart.
To illustrate where there is room for growth in lawyer representation—particularly in leadership—you can toggle the Workforce Comparison Benchmarks by region. Looking at the total available workforce, we see a consistent drop-off in representation for women, underrepresented racial/ethnic groups (URE), LGBTQ+ lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, and lawyers from non-professional socio-economic backgrounds. This decline begins at the associate/solicitor level and continues steadily through to equity partner. The same pattern appears across both regions, underscoring the need for transparent, consistent systems that support advancement at every stage of the talent pipeline.
Data Sources & Details
Lawyer Representation
United Kingdom lawyer representation figures are from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)’s “How diverse is the legal profession?” report (updated 3 January 2025). This report covers solicitors and other employees working in SRA-regulated law firms and is based on data collected from almost all firms in the summer of 2023.
United States figures for gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+ identity, and disability come from NALP’s “2024 Report on Diversity in US Law Firms,” drawn from the 2024 NALP Directory of Legal Employers (NDLE). Comparable national data on “social mobility” in US law firms is not available; instead, first-generation status (students whose parents did not complete a four-year degree) is drawn from the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) public data, accessed January 2025.
To ensure the analysis reflects the entire workforce, representation for men and white lawyers was calculated as the inverse of the reported data for women and non-white lawyers. This approach does not capture all identities, but it allows us to present the most complete picture possible given the available data.
Workforce Comparison Benchmarks
United Kingdom benchmarks reflect the total available workforce in the UK, as reported by the SRA. While comparisons to the total available legal workforce are preferable (i.e., the most recent law school graduating class), this level of detail is not available for all demographic groups in the UK. United States benchmarks reflect the graduating class of 2023, as reported by NALP. Because of limitations around social mobility/lower socio-economic background/first-generation graduate data in the US, benchmarks for that group are not available.
