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British legal services grew 50% over decade

New research shows that the value of legal services in Britain has increased by 50% in the last decade.

The Law Society of England and Wales’s economic-value report found the sector contributed Stg £34.2 billion to the country’s economy in 2022, compared with £22.8 billion in 2013.

The legal sector’s turnover in 2022 was £44 billion – an increase of 45%.

The report found that Britain exported £9.5 billion worth of legal services in 2023.

In 2022, an estimated 68,000 solicitors spent 1.5 million hours working on pro bono legal services.

Sector ‘key contributor’

According to the Law Society Gazette of England and Wales, the report “moderately projects” turnover in 2031 to be around £59 billion.

It also found that nearly half of British turnover is derived from London, with the majority (53%) coming from outside the capital.

Law Society president Richard Atkinson said: “Without question, the legal sector is a key contributor to the UK’s economy and is consistently growing.

“Our sector is responsible for employing more than half a million people, either directly or indirectly, and is a major UK export,” he stated, adding that legal services were also “instrumental” in the continued success of other sectors of the British economy.