Female solicitors will outnumber men within two years if the number of women entering the profession in the UK continues to grow at current rates.

The Law Society's Annual Statistics Report 2015, which analyses data collected via the SRA, reveals that the imbalance in the gender split is due solely to a disproportionate number of male solicitors aged over 40. But of practising solicitors under 35, who account for two-thirds of the total, 15,596 are male while 25,399 are women. Over the last five years, the Law Society Research Unit has found, the number of female practising solicitors has increased at a rate of 3.8% per year, compared to just 1.3% in respect of men. If the trend continues, women will outnumber men by 2017.

Amongst solicitors holding Practising Certificates who are aged over 50, 23,273 are male compared to 17,751 women. And a considerable number of old boys are simply refusing to retire or die. While there are only 108 women aged over 70 with Practising Certificates, there are 1,290 70+ men who are either still working or like to pretend they could.

"I'm not allowed to go home because of my personality"

The statistics confirm, however, that firms are still struggling to promote women. 42% of male solicitors in private practice are partners versus 19% of women, while the gap has narrowed by just 3.3% in the last five years.

The report contains several other titbits for stats fans:

• Male partners in 2015 are on average 50.3 years old, three years older than the average male partner in 2005. Female partners are much younger, 46.6 years old on average, compared to 42.6 in 2005.
• The number of British Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) solicitors mirrors the size of the local BAME population except in London, where 18% of PC holders are BAME compared to a general population which is 40% BAME.
• The 50 biggest firms in the UK (defined as those comprising 81+ partners) now employ almost 30% of the UK's solicitors.
• 40% of all practising solicitors are located in London, half of whom are based in the City.
• More solicitors than ever before are in-house, and the number of non-private practice organisations employing PC holders has increased.
• The SRA registered 5,457 trainees in 2015, 384 more than last year but 275 fewer than the hiring heights of 2004/5.

More qualitative judgments on life as a lawyer can be found in RollOnFriday's archive of Firm of the Year 2016 stories, in which over 4,000 staff spilled the beans on their firms.