Survey Findings

The Legal 500 Future Lawyers Trainee Solicitor 2024/25 Survey Findings

The aim of our survey has been the same for 20 years: to tell prospective lawyers what it’s really like to train at a law firm.

Using direct quotes from current trainees, we offer you an unbiased insight into the training experience at firms across the UK.

But as well as asking survey respondents about their training, we collect a whole host of other information too.

This data gives us a more detailed picture of the ethnic, socioeconomic and educational backgrounds of trainee solicitors, as well as the legal profession more broadly.

Below we set out our findings from the 2024/25 survey.

Ethnicity

When it comes to ethnicity, the legal industry has a long reputation for being very white. And it’s not unfair to say that the sector has been a bit slow to diversify.

Black solicitors in particular are still an underrepresented group, at trainee level but especially at more senior levels.

Asian solicitors fare better, but there is still a way to go.

On a more positive note, law firms have been making a concerted effort over the past decade to recruit a more diverse workforce.

This year:

78% of this year’s respondents identified as white (compared with 79% in 2023)
12% of respondents identified as Asian or Asian British (compared with 10% in 2023)
5% described their ethnicity as mixed or multiple ethnic groups (no change from 2023)
4% of this year’s trainees identified as Black or Black British (no change from 2023)
Less than 1% described their ethnicity as Arab or Jewish.

Gender

66% of this year’s trainee solicitor respondents identified as female (up from 62% in 2023)
33% identified as male (down from 26% in 2023)
Less than 1% of respondents described their gender as non-binary.

University

Oxbridge graduates and Russell Group students have long been favoured by law firms.

But things are changing, and this year 32% of respondents attended a university that does not fall into either of the above categories.

We expect this trend to continue in the coming years.

This year:

9% of respondents attended Oxbridge (down from 12% in 2023)
55% attended another Russell Group university (excluding Oxford and Cambridge) – no change from 2023.
35% attended other UK universities (up from 32% in 2023)
1% studied abroad (no change from 2023).

Degree subject

While the trend towards non-law degrees has been growing for the past decade, law is still a popular choice at undergraduate level.

61% of respondents studied law as their undergraduate degree subject (down from 62% in 2023)
39% studied a non-law subject (up from 38% in 2023)

The SQE has opened up the non-law route even more.

If you would like to find out more about our survey findings, get in touch.

Click the links below to see the winners from each category.