Annual report and business review

Read our latest annual report and business review, detailing the activities and achievements of the Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), as the Law Society Group.

Founded in 1825, the Law Society is the professional body for solicitors in England and Wales. For nearly 200 years, we have championed solicitors working in the public interest, and their role in protecting rights and promoting justice.

We have over 200,000 members across England and Wales, and we are proud to represent a dynamic and diverse profession.

Our key achievements in 2022/23

Our work is underpinned by core areas of focus:

representing and advocating for the profession
building community and a sense of belonging
providing trusted resources and tools for professional development
championing the value of the profession
supporting our members' businesses to navigate the future

2022/23 marked the first year of our 2022/25 corporate strategy. The strategy sets out four key objectives that will guide our work:

promote the value of the profession and provide a compelling member offer
protect the justice system and make sure it applies to everyone equally
maximise our potential by growing our commercial reach, by being efficient and sustainable
be an employer of choice for people who want to make a difference

We focused on access to justice and the rule of law and continued our work lobbying the governments in London and Cardiff on key legislation and reform.

To make the most powerful impact with our resources, we focused on the priorities that matter most to our members as they address the professional and business challenges arising from the ever-changing landscape within which they operate.

Community and engagement

Increased online engagement with members

We achieved 7.2 million impressions on LinkedIn, signalling a significant increase in engagement with our online content.

Our flagship monthly newsletter, Professional Update, saw an almost 500% increase in the number of members engaging with the content.

The Law Society Gazette experienced an average of 100,000 weekly readers.

Helping our members to navigate the future

4,500 members accessed exclusive content, webinars and events as part of our Sections offer, helping to grow membership within these communities.

Solicitors took advantage of the bespoke learning opportunities on offer, with 17,090 event registrations.

We celebrated 100 years of women in the solicitor profession with a multi-month campaign, including a flagship event at our headquarters, honouring past achievements and envisioning future successes of women in law.

Our Support Centre and Practice Advice Service responded to over 75,000 calls and successfully dealt with 300,000 queries.

Aspiring solicitors supported through the Diversity Access Scheme (DAS)

We supported aspiring solicitors from less advantaged backgrounds with scholarships, mentoring and work experience.

Our DAS saw a 32% increase in applications, reaching 286 in 2023.

We secured funding for 15 awards, supporting seven students through the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) and eight through the Legal Practice Course (LPC).

A valued profession

We champion the value solicitors bring to society, enhancing their impact locally, nationally and internationally.

We continued to influence key legislation, lead the way on professional ethics, secure overseas market access and actively engage with regulators to ensure our members' interests are represented.

In 2022/23, our president visited 15 regions across England and Wales to hear members' concerns and make sure their voices were heard.

We defended the profession in 700 media mentions, including a joint statement with the Bar Council condemning attacks on immigration lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie.

Our Reframing Justice project identified gaps between expert and public understanding of the rule of law and access to justice, involving over 1,200 votes and 23 organisations in the justice sector.

We consulted with members on proposals by the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) to transfer regulation to the SRA, using their insights to inform our response to the SRA consultation.

Advocating for our members, justice and the rule of law

Campaigning to safeguard legal aid

In 2022/23, we continued our campaign to protect criminal legal aid. We engaged with the government and media to advocate for the implementation of Sir Christopher Bellamy's recommendations, resulting in 1,500 pieces of media coverage.

We also took the government to court for fair funding and secured the first increase in legal aid means test thresholds in 13 years. This made six million more people eligible for legal aid and expanded access for domestic violence and special guardianship orders.

Influencing legislation and advocacy

We were a leading voice against the Bill of Rights Bill since it was introduced. In 2022/23, the bill was scrapped after we highlighted its potential harm to the rule of law and access to justice.

An amendment to the Illegal Migration Act was secured, resulting in a 15% increase in legal aid fees for related work.

Engaging with parliamentarians across all parties helped improve the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, supporting its goal to combat economic crime.

Promoting the profession

We secured over 7,600 pieces of media coverage related to our campaigns on behalf of members throughout the year, including 900 pieces of national coverage, 740 pieces of international coverage and 224 pieces of coverage on TV and radio.

More than 70 pieces of media coverage were secured as part of our duty solicitor campaign, which highlights our growing concerns over the drop in numbers of duty solicitors across the country.

In 2022/23, Law Society representatives spoke at 13 international conferences, including those hosted by the American and International Bar Associations.

We helped establish regulations for foreign lawyers in India and secured the implementation of article 194 of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement in Luxembourg, allowing UK lawyers to practise there.

Trusted resources and professional development

Strengthening resources for climate change

In 2022/23, we launched our landmark climate change guidance for solicitors to help them navigate emerging regulatory issues.

These resources garnered attention with over 270 mentions in national, regional and trade media.

LS Learning experiences a surge in registrations

10,266 new users joined LS Learning, pushing the total to over 36,000. Throughout the year, 26,414 members enrolled in our courses to boost their careers.

We expanded our learning and development offer with modules on risk and compliance, and by developing guidance for dealing with complaints following changes to the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules.

Being an employer of choice

Strategic approach to human resources and organisational development

Our people strategy focuses on four key areas:

to future-proof the organisation
to develop our ways of working
to develop our employee experience
to create and embed an inclusive culture

We achieved a silver award in the Inclusive Employers standard assessment and our highest score in seven years in our Investors in People review.

We identified 90 individuals across various job roles and departments to undertake a Leading with Impact programme to develop their leadership skills and embed a leadership culture across the organisation.

Embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) into our organisation

We created and published our first EDI annual report, which included our EDI goals and action plan.

Key areas of focus are:

to create further engagement
to implement metrics to measure the impact of EDI initiatives
to decrease bias in the recruitment process