“As one of very few openly gay men to have held the office of president of the Law Society, I’m heartened by the potential of this data to drive greater acceptance of LGBQ+ solicitors in law firms and other legal workplaces,” president of the Law Society of NSW Brett McGrath said.

“It’s a source of pride that this is the first time such data has been included in a report of this type by any membership or regulatory body for the solicitor profession in Australia.”

The chair of Pride in Law, Dean Clifford-Jones, said the importance of including data on sexual orientation could not be overstated.

VIEW ALL

“Pride in Law congratulates the Law Society of New South Wales for leading the way with the inclusion of this data within the legal profession. These statistics will assist in advancing greater inclusion for the LGBQ+ community in NSW,” he said.

“The proportion of solicitors identifying as LGBQ+ is lower than in the general population, but a significant number (10 per cent) ticked ‘prefer not to say’. Increasing acceptance of LGBQ+ people within the legal profession may, over time, lead to more people positively identifying as part of that community.”

In addition, McGrath said that the number of pro bono hours the profession had been putting in was particularly pleasing to see – and told Lawyers Weekly that “firms are absolutely driving cultural change within the profession”.

“People who join law and solicitors who join the profession, they generally do so because they want to make a difference in people’s lives. There is an altruistic side to wanting to be a lawyer and, with firms encouraging their solicitors to undertake that work, it’s part of our tradition and professional obligation,” he said.

“Of almost 13,600 solicitors who completed the 2023 Law Society’s Practising Certificate survey, 42 per cent said they’d performed pro bono work in the previous financial year, a second successive 2 per cent rise. On average, they provided 69 hours of pro bono service in the year, up four hours and close to double the annual target of 35 hours.”

McGrath said the reported total hours, equalling almost 52,000 working days in the 2022–23 financial year, significantly understates the pro bono commitment of the whole NSW profession.

“At an assumed $300 per hour, these practitioners delivered $117 million worth of pro bono work. However, these results can’t capture the unpaid legal work of the two-thirds of the profession that didn’t complete the voluntary survey,” he said.

“I’m convinced that more and more solicitors are seeing pro bono work as a core value of their professional lives. This is evidenced by a surge of more than a hundred new firms that have signed up to the Law Society’s Pro Bono Scheme since the beginning of this year.”

McGrath also said he’s encouraged at the further positive progress shown in this profile around the gender pay gap and career expectations for women in the profession.

“For three years, the gap between women and men earning over $150,000 a year has remained at a stubborn 9 per cent,” he said.

“That pay gap has now halved over the last decade to 7 per cent. There has been an 11 per cent increase over 10 years in the number of women who are principals or partners in private practice.”

Diversity

According to the survey, 62 per cent of NSW solicitors identified as non-Indigenous Australian, followed by Chinese (7 per cent) and English (6 per cent).

A total of 364 solicitors identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, representing 0.9 per cent of all solicitors in NSW – much lower than the general NSW population, with the 2021 census reporting 3.4 per cent of all people in NSW identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

A total of 1,434 respondents (11 per cent) also said they had a disability, long-term illness and/or mental health condition, with the majority of respondents being aged over 40 years (63 per cent), employed in private practice (55 per cent) and female (57 per cent).

These respondents were significantly more likely to be considering leaving the legal profession compared to those respondents who did not report a disability, long-term illness or mental health condition (42 per cent compared to 29 per cent). However, the report noted that “those with a disability, long-term illness or a mental health condition were significantly more likely to be aged over 60 years than those without (22 per cent compared to 18 per cent) and therefore more likely to be potentially considering exit from the profession due to retirement”.

Nineteen per cent of LGBTI respondents were working in the government legal sector compared to 12 per cent of heterosexual respondents, and there was also higher representation of queer respondents within the community legal sector (4 per cent compared to 1 per cent). There was a lower proportion of LGBTI respondents working in private practice (47 per cent) compared to heterosexual respondents (58 per cent).

Pro bono work

In 2023, 42 per cent of respondents reported conducting pro bono, unpaid or voluntary work as a legal practitioner in the previous year. On average, solicitors reported having provided 69 hours of service across the previous financial year.

Across all respondents, 389,045 hours (equivalent to approximately 51,873 working days) were reported to have been donated in the 12 months prior to the survey.

In addition to pro bono work, just over a third of respondents reported providing unpaid help, support or care to friends, family, neighbours or others in the year prior to the survey (37 per cent). These respondents, on average, provided 207 hours of unpaid support during that period, an increase from last year’s survey, which recorded an average of 180 hours, and the report prior, which recorded an average of 165 hours.

Income

Five per cent of practising solicitors reported earning over $500,000, with 22 per cent earning between $100,001 and $150,000 salaries, 19 per cent earning between $50,001 and $100,000 per year, and 13 per cent earning $150,001 to $200,000 per year.

Within these percentages, only 3 per cent of female lawyers were earning more than $500,000, compared to 8 per cent of male solicitors, with more women earning between $50,001 to $200,000 than men. For salaries between $250,001 and $500,000, there was a higher percentage of male solicitors in each bracket.

The proportion of solicitors earning $50,000 or less has decreased from 13 per cent in FY11–12 to 6 per cent in FY21–22. The proportion of solicitors earning more than $200,000 increased from 20 per cent in FY11–12 to 27 per cent in FY21–22.

Solicitors working in the corporate legal sector reported earning higher incomes than survey respondents working in private practice or the government legal sector. In the corporate sector, 27 per cent reported earning more than $250,000, compared to 18 per cent of private practice solicitors and 5 per cent of government legal practitioners.

Moreover, 60 per cent of corporate legal practitioners reported incomes of over $150,000, compared to only 36 per cent of private practice solicitors and 30 per cent of government legal practitioners. Furthermore, almost half of all corporate legal practitioners reported earning over $200,000 (44 per cent), compared to 25 per cent of private practice solicitors and 12 per cent of government legal practitioners.

Overall, income was higher for respondents in larger law practices than in smaller law practices. Thirty-four per cent of respondents in law practices with 50 or more principals reported earning more than $250,000, compared to only 10 per cent of those in law practices with one to four principals. In contrast, only 9 per cent of respondents in law practices with 50 or more principals reported earning $100,000 or less, compared to 43 per cent of those in law practices with one to four principals.

Age

The average age of all solicitors in NSW as at 31 October 2023 was 42.6 years old, in line with last year’s result (42.7 years). In 2023, nearly half of all solicitors in NSW were aged under 40 years (49 per cent), while 14 per cent of solicitors were aged 60 years or older.

Twenty-one per cent of females were aged under 30 years, compared to 14 per cent of males, and 31 per cent of females had been admitted as a solicitor for five years or less, compared to 23 per cent of males. The average age of female solicitors was 39.8 years, compared to 46 years for males. Further, only 7 per cent of female solicitors were aged 60 years or older, compared to 22 per cent of males.

The report also revealed that in terms of years since admission, more than half of all NSW solicitors had been admitted for more than 10 years (54 per cent), while nearly two-fifths had been admitted for two to 10 years (39 per cent). Eight per cent had been admitted for one year or less as at 31 October 2023.

Gender

Since 1997, the growth rate of female solicitors has been consistently higher than that of male solicitors; the number of female solicitors has grown fivefold, while the number of male solicitors has almost doubled.

A larger proportion of female solicitors in NSW were working in the corporate and government legal sectors (24 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively), compared to male solicitors (18 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively). Additionally, less than a third of female solicitors working in private practice were principals of their law practice (29 per cent), compared to more than half of males working in private practice (52 per cent).

There was also a greater proportion of male principals (65 per cent) than females (35 per cent). However, this gap has been gradually decreasing; in 2013, 76 per cent of partners/principals were male and only 24 per cent were female, and in 2023, these proportions were 65 per cent males and 35 per cent females.

The gender pay gap also remained evident, particularly in older practitioners. In the 35 to 39 age bracket, 44 per cent of male respondents reported incomes of over $200,000, compared to 29 per cent of females. Between the ages of 40 to 49, thirty-six per cent of male respondents reported incomes of over $250,000, compared to 29 per cent of females.

Practice sectors

Over two-thirds of NSW solicitors were working in private practice (67 per cent), and 21 per cent were working in the corporate legal sector. The remaining 12 per cent were working in the government legal sector.

All three practice sectors have experienced growth since 2011 – the number of solicitors in private practice has increased from 17,091 in 2011 to 26,969 in 2023, amounting to an average annual growth rate of 4 per cent, and 4 per cent growth in the 12 months to October 2023.

The corporate legal sector has grown from 4,601 practitioners in 2011 to 8,369 in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 5 per cent and a 7 per cent growth rate in the 12 months to October 2023.

Finally, the government legal sector experienced 5 per cent growth in the 12 months to October 2023 with an average annual growth rate of 4 per cent from 2011.

In private practice, there was an equal proportion of male and female solicitors (50 per cent), with a greater number of female solicitors in the government legal sector (69 per cent, compared to 31 per cent of males) and in the corporate legal sector (62 per cent, compared to 38 per cent of males).