Almost a third of lawyers worldwide have lost business to law firms or individual lawyers engaged in international bribery and corruption, a major study has found.

More than one in five said they had been approached to take part in a possible corrupt transaction, according to a survey of nearly 650 lawyers in 95 countries by the International Bar Association (IBA), in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

In the UK, more than a third of lawyers said they believed that corruption in this country affected the work they do.

Globally, almost half of legal professionals believed that corruption affected their work, and nearly a third said they knew of other lawyers involved in corrupt activity on an international scale.

The research found that 40% of lawyers worldwide have never heard of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention – two major international anti-corruption instruments.

‘The survey results are disappointing, so we need to do more to raise awareness of these conventions,’ said OECD legal affairs director Nicola Bonucci.

Dimitri Vlassis, UNODC head of corruption and economic crime, said: ‘We need lawyers to act as leaders in this battle.’