The number of solicitors in Australia has risen by almost 50 per cent over the past decade – with Queensland being home to 16 per cent of the nation’s estimated 97,500 practitioners.
The recently released 2024 National Profile of Solicitors also shows that between 2014-24 the number of women solicitors has far exceeded the number of a previously male dominated profession – with the number of women now accounting for 56 per cent of all working solicitors.
The Queensland Law Society contributed to the report, which was prepared for the Law Society of New South Wales. It was commissioned on behalf of the Conference of Law Societies to provide a snapshot of the current state of the profession and to note changes over a 10-year period.
The 36-page report compiled from research conducted by strategic planning firm Urbis shows Queensland is home to an estimated 15,158 (16 per cent) of the nation’s practitioners, having almost double in size since 2011.
“The legal profession continues to experience strong growth and is approaching 100,000 practitioners (from 66,211 in 2014 to 97,500 in 2024),’’ the report states.
“While two-thirds of the profession work in private practice, the corporate and government legal sectors have experienced higher growth.
“Female solicitors continue to outnumber male solicitors in all states and territories and, for the first time within private practice.
“Representation is increasing at both ends of the age spectrum.’’
The data shows the proportion of early career lawyers, aged 34 years and younger, had risen from representing 35 per cent of the total number of practitioners in 2014 to 40 per cent in the space of decade.
Meanwhile, the proportion of senior practitioners, aged 65 years and older, had jumped significantly in the same period by 92 per cent.
“The mean age of all Australian solicitors in 2024 was 42 years old and has remained stable over time,’’ the report states.
“Female solicitors were younger on average, with a mean age of 40 years, compared to 46 years for male solicitors.”
Other data collected showed the number and proportional representation of First Nations solicitors continued to remain low – accounting for 0.8 per cent of the profession. The highest proportion of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander solicitors was in the Northern Territory (2.3 per cent) and Queensland (1.3 per cent).
“Since 2014, data has been provided on solicitors identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. In 2024, a total of 757 solicitors identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, and this has remained relatively stable across the past decade,’’ the report revealed.
The proportion of rural Australia practitioners has also remained low – decreasing from 12.5 per cent in 2014 to 8.8 per cent last year. Tasmania and Queensland had the highest proportions of solicitors working in a city area (83 per cent each).
The report does not provide any analysis or suggest reasons for changes – many dramatic – and trends in the data collected.
However, one of the more significant findings is the massive shift in the number of women in the profession.
“In 2024, the Australian legal profession comprised a greater proportion of female solicitors (56 per cent) than male solicitors (44 per cent),’’ the report stated.
“This trend was first observed in 2018 and reflects the greater number of female solicitors entering the profession compared to male solicitors (+106 per cent compared to +37 per cent) since 2011.”
See report: 2024 National Profile of Solicitors
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