CPS: Second biggest employer of public sector solicitors after local government
The public sector is home to a more diverse group of in-house solicitors than the private sector, Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) data has shown.
The proportion of in-house solicitors in the public sector who are Black is twice as high as in the private sector, while nearly a third of female in-house solicitors work in the public sector, compared to less than a quarter of men.
The detail on the diversity profile of in-house solicitors, understood to be the first of its kind, follows publication of a report by the SRA in December on the diversity of solicitors working for law firms [1].
The regulator said it had sufficient data to release the figures on the ethnicity, sex and age of the 33,500 in-house lawyers who make up around a fifth of all practising solicitors.
The figures for the profession as a whole showed an increase in Black, Asian and minority ethnic lawyers from 14% in 2015 to 19% in 2023. The proportion of in-house solicitors from ethnic minority backgrounds is exactly the same, at 19%.
The proportion of in-house lawyers who are Black is slightly higher, at 4% compared to 3% for the whole profession, and who are Asian slightly lower, at 11% compared to 12%.
Black in-house solicitors are twice as likely to be found in the public sector, where they make up 6% of in-house lawyers, than the private sector, where they make up only 3%.
Asian solicitors are also more likely to be working in the public sector, but not by much – 12% compared to 11%. White in-house solicitors are slightly more likely to be working for the private sector (81% v 79%).
Two-thirds of all in-house solicitors work in the private sector. Of the 28% that work in the public sector, the big employers are local government (13%), the Crown Prosecution Service or CPS (7%) and the Government Legal Profession (4%).
A smaller group of in-house solicitors work for regulatory bodies (2%), educational establishments (2%) and advice services (1%).
A particularly high proportion of Black in-house solicitors work for local government (27%), followed by 11% for the CPS. For Asian solicitors, the proportion working for local government is 16% and 8% in the CPS, and for White solicitors 13% and 7%.
While just over a half of the solicitors working for law firms are female, six out of ten (61%) of those working in-house are women.
Almost seven out of ten (68%) of solicitors working in the public sector are female, where the leading employers are local government (16%) and the CPS. Of the 23% of male in-house solicitors who work in the public sector, 9% work in local government and 7% for the CPS.
Younger in-house solicitors, those aged between 25 and 44, are much more likely to work in the private sector, where seven out of 10 are based.
Local government has a particularly number high proportion of older solicitors. More than a fifth of in-house solicitors aged over 55 work there.