SRA: Fewer firms, more solicitors
One in five contested cases before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) last year did not lead to a conviction, by far the highest in recent years, according to new figures.
Data published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) also showed that it received 15,914 reports of concerns about solicitors, 34% more than in the previous year.
Other figures in the raft of annual reports detailing its performance for the year to 31 October 2025 showed a sharp rise in the number of fines it handed out to individuals and firms.
The regulator said 107 cases concluded at the SDT, of which 45 were resolved with an agreed outcome approved by the tribunal and 62 after a hearing.
Of those 62, 12 ended in no order – the highest number in the past seven years both in real terms and as a proportion of contested cases.
The SRA has previously warned about the sharp uptick in the number of reports of misconduct made to it.
The SRA aims to assess 80% of reports within two months but the increase in number meant it failed to hit the target but mostly met the timeliness targets for completing investigations. It wants to complete 93% of investigation cases within 12 months and did this in 11 of the 12 months.
Some 2,673 matters were referred for investigation in the year, 52% more than in the previous 12 months. Of those, 1,777 were closed without further action.
A key priority has been to reduce cases open for more than 24 months; the number has falled from 161 in October 2023 to 60 in October 2025.
The SRA issued 176 fines in 2024-25, compared with 94 the previous year, with a total value of £6.7m, but this would have included its largest-ever fine, just shy of £4m, on the former non-solicitor owner of collapsed law firm Kingly Solicitors.
As a result of all this, the cost of investigations and enforcement rose 22% to £28.5m.
As at 31 October 2025, the number of law firms was 8,928 – dipping below 9,000 for the first time in recent memory – even though the number of practising solicitors continues to rise, up 3% to 176,972 (with 212,481 on the roll).
There were 333 new law firms authorised, compared to 356 in 2023-24, 321 the year before and 407 the year before that.
The SRA closed down 42 law firms in 2024-25, 17 fewer than the previous year. As we have previously reported, the SRA Compensation Fund paid out £47m, nearly £20m more than the year before, primarily due to the collapse of Axiom Ince.
Other interesting figures include:
- Since 2022, the SRA has received approximately 300 reports about abusive litigation and formally investigated 97 of them, of which 31 remain open;
- In a project to check compliance with the transparency rules, the SRA reviewed more than 2,000 firms, and as of the end of October 2025, issued 838 warnings and 55 fixed financial penalties; and
- The number of solicitor apprentices continued to rise quickly, up from 1,350 to 2,000 in 2024-25.
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