News release
Ten-year diversity data shows improvements but more to be done
11 March 2026
We have released law firm diversity data spanning the past 10 years revealing, for the first time, how representation levels are changing over time across the profession in characteristics such as sex, ethnicity, disability and socio-economic factors.
We are committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. To gain a clear picture of trends in the sector, we have collected firm diversity data every two years since 2015.
Overall, the data shows that diversity in the profession is increasing, including in representation of women and representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. However, gaps remain in areas such as disability, socio-economic background and progression into senior roles.
Ten-year diversity trends
The ten-year data shows the proportion of women in the profession has continued to increase reaching 55% in 2025 compared with 48% in 2015. However, a seniority gap remains with just 40% of women at partner level in 2025, which rose from 32% in 2015.
Since 2015, the proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic lawyers has increased by six percentage points, from 14% to 20% in 2025. This is slightly higher than the 2025 national employment figures of 18% for the UK workforce.
The proportion of lawyers identifying as having a disability has increased by five percentage points, from 3% in 2015 to 8% in 2025, this compares to 17% declaring such in the 2025 national employment figures.
There was an increase in the proportion of lawyers who were lesbian, gay, bi (LGB) or preferred another description from 3% in 2015 to 4.5% in 2025. This is broadly in line with 2025 national employment figures (4.8%).
We have developed a new interactive tool that presents ten-year trends in diversity across the profession. This complements the existing tool, which enables firms to benchmark their own diversity data against the latest data from the sector.
SRA Chief Executive Sarah Rapson says, 'Encouraging diversity and inclusion within the legal sector is positive for consumers and for law firms alike. Consumers benefit from working with legal professionals that reflect their wider community, and firms thrive with talented professionals from different backgrounds in their firms.
'Whether we look at trends over the past 10 years or the most recent data, it is clear that while progress has been made, more can be done. In particular, to address the barriers to progression for women and minority ethnic solicitors in larger firms, the underrepresentation of disabled solicitors, and to encourage those from less privileged backgrounds to progress in the profession.'
2025 diversity data
Women remained under‑represented at senior levels, accounting for 35% of full‑equity partners and 31% in the largest firms.
Overall, 19% of partners were from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background. However, representation varied significantly by firm size, falling to 9% in firms with 50 or more partners, compared with 42% in one partner firms
Lawyers identifying as having a disability made up 8% of all lawyers, however, representation varied by firm size, with 13% of lawyers in one partner firms declaring a disability, compared with 6% in firms with 50 or more partners.
Overall, 24% of lawyers attended an independent or fee-paying school, compared with around 6% of the general public. 66% of lawyers are from a more privileged background compared to 46% of the national population.
Where national data does not include 'prefer not to say' responses, to enable a more direct comparison, we have removed 'prefer not to say' responses from our data.