First minister welcomes SLN findings on women in the profession

We found that 62 per cent of the 589 current Diploma in Legal Practice students are women with only 223 males taking the qualification necessary to become a solicitor.

Our research followed the news from the Law Society of Scotland that 49 per cent of Scotland’s lawyers were women in 2014.

With males dominating in the older age groups nearing retirement it seems safe to surmise that this year women will become the majority – just as they are in the Republic of Ireland where, at the end of 2014, there were 4,623 female solicitors compared to 4,609 male solicitors.

The figures are striking – with women outnumbering male students at Dundee University by more than five to one.

Ms Sturgeon, who took the LLB and Diploma at Glasgow University, said: “It’s very encouraging to see an increase in the number of women in the legal profession.

“When I studied law in the 1990s. I remember there being many women in my class, but overall it was still a male-dominated profession.

“In general, huge progress has been made in recent years in terms of the opportunities available for women in the labour market.”