Population of solicitors in England and Wales

We regulate solicitors and law firms, as well as other lawyers and non-lawyer managers in those law firms across England and Wales. We also regulate those working as registered European or foreign lawyers.

Our purpose is to protect the public by making sure that solicitors meet high standards, and by acting when risks are identified.

The graph chart below shows the trend in the number of practising solicitors (those holding practising certificates). There are currently 174,287 practising solicitors.

Each year, practising solicitors must renew their practising certificate and we revoke those which are not renewed. This means there will be a fall in the numbers of practising solicitors at certain points in the table.

We also carry out a keeping of the roll exercise. This was reintroduced in 2023, the result of which can be seen in July, and will now be come an annual exercise.

Snapshot of solicitors

As well as practising solicitors we also regulate registered European lawyers, registered foreign lawyers, and exempt European lawyers. The current numbers of these three groups can be seen in the table below.

The total number of solicitors on the roll at the end of January 2026 was 215,039.

Date range	All solicitors on the roll	Practising solicitors	Registered European lawyers	Registered foreign lawyers	Exempt European lawyers
Feb-26	215,039	174,287	9	7,197	122
Jan-26	214,450	173,320	9	7,105	122
Dec-25	213,874	172,382	9	7,034	122
Nov-25	213,197	176,037	10	7,645	122
Oct-25	212,481	176,972	10	7,568	122
Sep-25	211,755	176,360	10	7,538	124
Aug-25	209,317	174,137	10	7,464	124
Jul-25	208,159	173,017	10	7,357	124
Jun-25	211,971	172,429	10	7,265	124
May-25	211,311	171,761	10	7,145	124
Apr-25	210,815	171,112	10	6,939	125
Mar-25	210,268	170,288	10	6,825	125
Feb-25	209,200	168,974	10	6,695	125
Jan-25	208,525	168,046	11	6,554	125
Dec-24	207,902	167,034	11	6,450	125
Nov-24	207,375	170,587	10	7,041	125
Oct-24	206,787	171,697	10	7,027	125
Sep-24	206,116	170,973	10	6,974	125
Aug-24	203,794	168,790	11	6,886	125
Jul-24	202,524	167,648	10	6,811	125
Jun-24	207,002	167,070	10	6,748	125
May-24	206,454	166,451	10	6,702	125
Apr-24	205,885	165,742	10	6,598	126
Mar-24	205,342	164,916	10	6,495	128
Feb-24	204,272	163,658	10	6,419	137
Jan-24	203,693	162,927	10	6,175	137
Dec-23	203,048	161,879	10	6,068	138
Nov-23	202,395	165,361	11	6,423	138
Oct-23	201,690	166,256	11	6,370	138
Sep-23	200,830	165,359	12	6,349	139
Aug-23	198,456	163,189	11	6,294	139
Jul-23	197,399	162,128	11	6,242	139
Jun-23	223,365	161,623	11	6,179	139
May-23	222,994	161,149	10	6,102	140
Apr-23	222,537	160,432	10	6,020	141
Mar-23	222,007	159,568	10	5,851	141
Feb-23	220,864	158,163	10	5,812	142
Jan-23	220,455	157,437	9	5,809	142
Dec-22	220,069	156,405	9	5,782	165
Nov-22	219,749	159,994	8	6,072	165
Oct-22	219,424	160,676	8	6,000	166
Sep-22	218,932	159,741	8	5,949	166
Aug-22	217,021	157,774	8	5,894	172
Jul-22	216,171	156,965	8	5,928	173
Jun-22	215,896	156,518	8	5,887	197
May-22	215,567	156,055	8	5,852	198
Apr-22	215,186	155,527	8	5,758	198
Mar-22	214,876	154,980	8	5,653	198
Feb-22	214,032	153,840	8	5,507	198
Jan-22	213,504	156,356	16	5,849	198
Dec-21	213,165	156,122	17	5,834	199
Nov-21	212,912	156,413	18	5,836	199
Oct-21	212,601	156,928	18	5,836	198
Sep-21	212,218	156,323	19	5,778	173
Aug-21	210,152	154,273	17	5,723	173
Jul-21	209,181	153,246	18	5,652	173
Jun-21	208,859	152,762	17	5,587	173
May-21	208,645	152,393	15	5,541	173
Apr-21	208,366	151,885	15	5,463	174
Mar-21	207,916	154,170	14	5,632	177
Feb-21	206,972	153,616	14	5,596	177
Jan-21	206,488	152,997	141	5,587	>1,772
Dec-20	206,271	152,528	759	2,917	3,800
Nov-20	205,823	153,560	756	2,885	3,793
Oct-20	205,688	153,082	763	2,856	3,776
Sep-20	204,641	152,060	776	2,816	3,765
Aug-20	203,156	150,695	778	2,801	3,762
Jul-20	202,460	150,021	781	2,779	3,762
Jun-20	202,265	149,621	781	2,758	3,715
May-20	201,873	149,152	784	2,729	3,699
Apr-20	201,547	148,770	792	2,699	3,672
Mar-20	201,186	148,284	826	2,648	3,618
Feb-20	200,320	147,333	820	2,609	3,599
Jan-20	200,021	146,791	793	2,572	3,604
Dec-19	199,742	146,092	753	2,542	3,588
Nov-19	199,503	149,005	769	2,688	3,576
Oct-19	199,181	150,349	761	2,685	3,564
Sep-19	198,692	149,806	741	2,662	3,548
Aug-19	196,324	147,403	733	2,638	3,522
Jul-19	195,952	146,913	731	2,602	3,500
Jun-19	195,660	146,418	728	2,568	3,489
May-19	195,334	146,046	732	2,544	3,469
Apr-19	194,969	145,547	722	2,515	3,432
Mar-19	194,464	144,845	715	2,439	3,400
Feb-19	193,451	143,683	690	2,390	3,385
Jan-19	193,162	143,187	679	2,369	3,305
Dec-18	192,866	143,198	667	2,364	3,222
Nov-18	192,516	145,999	694	2,493	3,217
Oct-18	192,121	146,625	689	2,491	3,203
Sep-18	191,621	146,050	699	2,470	3,191
Aug-18	189,236	143,652	693	2,449	3,174
Jul-18	188,880	143,184	677	2,406	3,164
Jun-18	188,557	142,665	668	2,396	3,147
May-18	188,274	142,286	661	2,383	3,120
Apr-18	187,961	141,811	649	2,348	3,097
Mar-18	187,469	141,121	647	2,331	3,052
Feb-18	186,560	140,064	642	2,315	3,004
Jan-18	186,269	139,579	635	2,278	2,996
Dec-17	185,900	139,797	633	2,258	2,978
Nov-17	185,596	142,359	673	2,420	2,968
Oct-17	185,240	143,072	676	2,407	2,938
Sep-17	184,736	142,515	676	2,398	2,923
Aug-17	182,324	140,083	667	2,389	2,920
Jul-17	181,982	139,638	661	2,364	2,919
Jun-17	181,619	139,084	654	2,350	2,907
May-17	181,347	138,758	651	2,327	2,892
Apr-17	181,000	138,280	649	2,308	2,918
Mar-17	180,559	137,623	650	2,294	2,899
Feb-17	179,647	136,596	640	2,234	2,834
Jan-17	179,317	136,068	630	2,215	2,816
Dec-16	178,972	135,309	602	2,194	2,849
Nov-16	178,682	138,063	612	2,325	2,832
Oct-16	178,340	139,313	627	2,337	2,827
Sep-16	177,785	138,905	619	2,320	2,830
Aug-16	175,582	136,701	611	2,309	2,825
Jul-16	175,181	136,211	599	2,289	2,805
Jun-16	174,732	135,598	593	2,279	2,784
May-16	174,416	135,221	581	2,243	2,776
Apr-16	174,095	134,785	567	2,211	2,743
Mar-16	173,636	134,099	551	2,193	2,721
Feb-16	172,788	133,224	531	2,166	2,718
Jan-16	172,380	132,635	522	2,147	2,713
Dec-15	172,033	132,245	504	2,166	2,718
Nov-15	171,760	136,940	531	2,310	2,694
Oct-15	171,464	136,294	515	2,296	2,695
Sep-15	170,857	135,976	510	2,281	2,682
Aug-15	168,663	133,837	496	2,266	2,674
Jul-15	168,231	133,364	482	2,249	2,666
Jun-15	167,866	132,864	476	2,230	2,651
May-15	167,503	132,520	467	2,201	2,616
Apr-15	167,147	132,087	455	2,175	2,590
Mar-15	166,737	131,518	431	2,138	2,577
Feb-15	165,754	130,443	427	2,122	2,567
Jan-15	165,368	129,922	420	2,069	2,567
Dec-14	164,951	129,246	401	2,027	2,568
Nov-14	164,598	132,636	439	2,115	2,540
Oct-14	164,133	133,327	445	2,132	2,539
Sep-14	163,336	132,975	443	2,131	2,531
Aug-14	161,091	130,846	424	2,102	2,527
Jul-14	160,546	130,419	412	2,082	2,527
Jun-14	166,423	129,552	414	2,071	2,513
May-14	166,119	129,552	408	2,044	2,495
Apr-14	165,781	129,083	392	2,021	2,471
Mar-14	165,242	128,425	383	2,003	2,464
Feb-14	164,365	127,423	374	1,994	2,452
Jan-14	163,898	130,612	405	2,140	2,433
Dec-13	163,514	131,134	397	2,130	2,420
Nov-13	163,015	130,812	384	2,106	2,414
Oct-13	162,367	130,643	383	2,095	2,340
Sep-13	161,323	129,794	380	2,076	2,343
Aug-13	158,872	127,874	375	1,914	2,342
Jul-13	167,790	127,575	376	1,898	2,338
Jun-13	167,457	127,068	370	1,889	2,308
May-13	167,146	126,624	364	1,870	2,301
Apr-13	166,522	126,064	354	1,851	2,269
Mar-13	165,956	125,192	371	1,825	2,239
Feb-13	164,998	128,169	409	2,018	2,226
Jan-13	164,793	128,379	401	2,000	2,174
Dec-12	164,181	128,419	393	1,978	2,078
Nov-12	163,031	127,890	388	1,967	2,077
Oct-12	169,338	127,353	384	1,955	2,077
Sep-12	168,713	127,109	368	1,929	2,047
Aug-12	166,385	124,968	367	1,744	2,046
Jul-12	166,007	128,710	385	1,852	2,042
Jun-12	165,748	128,860	366	1,835	2,023
May-12	165,519	128,569	360	1,812
Apr-12	165,227	128,240	343	1,784	2,018
Mar-12	164,841	127,884	338	1,780	2,016
Feb-12	163,978	126,858	328	1,768	2,001
Jan-12	163,229	126,008	327	1,765	1,997
Dec-11	163,259	125,718	317	1,742	1,996
Nov-11	163,108	125,473	304	1,728	1,997
Oct-11	162,818	125,011	305	1,722	1,994
Sep-11	161,815	124,306	300	1,707	1,989
Aug-11	159,798	122,343	294	1,680	1,966

Notes

Following the UK's exit from the EU only Swiss registered European lawyers (REL) can continue as an REL up to 1 January 2024. All other RELs are now registered foreign lawyers.
Following the UK's exit from the EU most exempt European lawyers (EELs) are no longer treated as legally qualified in England and Wales. All non-UK EELs are now registered foreign lawyers. Since January 2021 this column only shows those who are UK EELs.