Last week’s general election saw 19 solicitors newly elected as MPs – 14 for the Conservative Party and five for Labour.

The new solicitor MPs came from all sections of the profession, including high street firms, large commercial practices, in-house and the public sector.

Conservative wins included Helen Grant, senior partner at Croydon firm Grants, who won Anne Widdecombe’s former seat of Maidstone & The Weald; Jake Berry, a commercial property lawyer at Manchester firm Halliwells, who won in Rossendale and Darwen; Eversheds consultant Jonathan Evans who won Cardiff North; and Gareth Johnson, criminal lawyer at Bexleyheath firm Thomas Boyd Whyte, who was elected in Dartford. Stephen Barclay, an in-house solicitor at Barclays UK Retail Bank, was elected in the safe Conservative seat of North East Cambridgeshire.

In Bury North, David Nuttall secured a Tory victory over his Labour opponent and fellow solicitor, Maryam Khan.

The solicitors who won seats for Labour included Catherine McKinnell of Newcastle firm Dickinson Dees, elected for Newcastle North; Jonathan Reynolds, a trainee at Addleshaw Goddard in Manchester, elected for Stalybridge and Hyde; and Chuka Umunna, employment lawyer at Rochman Landau, elected for Streatham.

Valerie Vaz, sister of fellow Labour MP Keith Vaz and a solicitor with the Government Legal Service, won the seat of Walsall South for the Labour Party.

There are now more than 50 MPs who are qualified solicitors.