Global economic worries do not seem to have hit the UK legal sector - yet, according to the latest snapshot of the sector from a City lobby group. TheCityUK’s 11th annual report on the UK’s legal services sector finds that evenues generated by the sector rose 12.5% year to £41bn in 2021/22.

The sector now employs around 375,000 people, two thirds based out of London. Major centres are Manchester (13,000 employees), Leeds (10,000) and Birmingham (9,000). In 2021, the sector contributed £30.7bn (or 1.6% of GVA) to the UK and posted a trade surplus of £5.4bn.

The report notes the continuing rise in the number of solicitors working in-house in England and Wales. More than 25% of all practising certificate holders (33,370) worked in the in-house sector in 2021, up 20% in the previous decade. Scotland has also seen a similar trend, with 25% of the profession working in-house, up from 22% in 2010.

Other key facts about UK legal services include:

  • English common law forms the basis of the legal systems for some 27% of the world’s 320 jurisdictions.
  • Revenue generated by the UK’s largest 100 law firms grew by 9% to £31.4bn in 2021/22, an uplift of more than 50% over the past decade.
  • Revenue of the UK’s top 25 law firms rose by 9% to £24.5bn, accounting for almost 80% of the revenue of the UK’s top 100 firms.
  • Over 200 foreign law firms from around 40 jurisdictions have offices in the UK, and all the world’s top 40 law firms have an office in London.
  • London is seen as the world’s preferred centre for arbitration – in 2021, 28,639 civil disputes were resolved through arbitration, mediation, and adjudication.
  • Parties from 75 countries used the commercial courts in 2021/22.

Another growing sector is legal technology, a market which is now worth at least $15.9bn globally.  As of December 2020, around 200 businesses in the UK had attracted £674m in investment and employed more than 7,000 people, with Belfast emerging as a centre for legal innovation.

Miles Celic, chief executive TheCityUK, described the sector as a 'great British success story' but warned against complaceny. ’Despite the challenging economic and geopolitical backdrop, the sector has continued to be a major employer and key contributor to economies across the country. It is also a critical part of what makes the UK a world-leading international centre,' he said. However 'The sector must keep innovating to retain its world-leading status.’