Research revealed that gross value added from the sector came in at £34.2 billion
The value of the UK legal services market ticked up by 50 percent in the past decade, reported the Law Society Gazette.
In 2022, the gross value added from the profession was £34.2 billion – a significant increase from 2013’s £22.8 billion as per the UK Law Society’s “The economic contribution of legal services 2024” report. Moreover, turnover was up 45 percent, hitting £44 billion.
“Without question, the legal sector is a key contributor to our country’s economy and is consistently growing,” Law Society President Richard Atkinson said in a statement. “Our sector is responsible for employing more than half a million people either directly or indirectly and is a major UK export.”
The value of UK’s legal services exports last year amounted to £9.5 billion.
“Exports are critical for maintaining and improving our standards of living as is the fact that legal services are instrumental for the continued success of other sectors of the UK economy,” Atkinson added.
As per 2022 data, the UK legal profession employed 311,000 people in total, including 215,000 individuals who hold legal roles outside the industry – according to the Law Society, this indicates that the number of legal professionals operating outside the sector outnumber the ones working within it. Moreover, 47 percent of the turnover in the legal services sector occurs in London.
London also accounted for 46 percent of gross value added. Overall, England generated 92 percent of turnover and gross value added, with Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland making up the remaining 8 percent.
In addition, the legal activities sector is the second-biggest net contributor to trade balance in the UK, just trailing behind business and management consultancy services. The legal activities industry also generates more gross value added than the accounting and advertising industries.
One significant contributor is the amount of pro bono work provided by lawyers – the report estimated that 68,000 solicitors provided pro bono work valued at £474 million. In total, these solicitors logged 1,562,000 hours of pro bono work.
Nonetheless, Atkinson stressed that “the economy should not be about the numbers, but about people’s prosperity and the positive difference they see in their lives.”
