Women currently comprise 55% of all solicitors in the country
The proportion of female solicitors in Australia has sustained a strong growth trend, according to the results of the 2022 National Profile of Solicitors.
“Women continue to outnumber male solicitors in all states and territories. They now make up 55% of all solicitors in Australia”, NSW Law Society CEO Sonja Stewart pointed out in a media release, noting the uptick compared to 2011, where women made up just 46% of Australia’s then-57,577 solicitors.
Since 2011, the number of practising solicitors in the country has increased by 57%. However, the number of female solicitors in particular has soared by 86% compared to an increase of just 32% for the number of male solicitors in the same period.
Of these, 67% are in private practice—Stewart noted that this figure is indicative of gender parity being achieved in this area, which “marks a significant chapter in the development of the legal profession in this country”.
“For some time now, women have made up the majority of government lawyers (69%), in-house counsel (61%) and solicitors working in the legal assistance sector (70%). These new figures show for the first time that in private practice, the genders are now represented equally”, she said.
Stewart pointed out that women also comprise over 60% of solicitors in their first five years of practice; this figure rises to almost 70% in rural, regional and remote Australia.
Female solicitors in the country are, on average, aged 39.
The 2022 National Profile of Solicitors was collated by consultancy firm Urbis.
