England: Number of sole practitioners halves in a decade

There were 3,640 sole practitioners in July 2011, making up a third of all solicitors, but the figure has fallen by 47 per cent to just 1,940 in July 2021, making up just a fifth of solicitors today.

Arden Partners, who conducted the analysis, said the Covid-19 pandemic would likely further accelerate the consolidation of high street and mid-market law firms.

As of July, the majority (51 per cent) of solicitor practices in England and Wales were incorporated companies. This model was only the third most common, with 22 per cent, a decade before.

John Llewellyn-Lloyd, head of business services at Arden, said: “The legal sector has changed significantly over the past decade, but I think that level of change is nothing compared to the disruption and consolidation we could see over the next few years.

“The corporate model is winning its battle with partnerships as the legal management structure of choice and at the smaller end of the spectrum, the UK legal market is very fragmented indeed and ripe for consolidation.

“Covid has effected a quantum shift in the rate of consolidation. These practitioners are under significant pressure to invest in IT infrastructure and reduce back-office costs, but they lack the cash to do so.

“I believe we will see more and more of these sole practitioners and small firms join the legal consultants whose ‘officeless’ model suddenly looks highly appealing to many.”