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Legal Expertise

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Legal Expertise

For more information about the GREAT campaign and the information found in these scripts, please contact Annette Craze: annette.craze@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

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  • The UK legal sector is a critical enabler for UK business. It is fundamental in the sustainability of banking, capital and insurance markets and ensures the UK is an attractive destination for inward investment. As one of the UK’s strongest exports, it contributes around £34 billion each year to the British economy and employs around 368,000 people – with around two thirds of these jobs based outside London (Source: The CityUK, ‘Legal excellence, internationally renowned UK legal services’, 2023).

  • The sector has a strong record of growth. The legal services trade surplus almost doubled over the 10-year period to 2020 to reach over £5.7 billion to 2022 (Source: The CityUK, ‘Legal excellence, internationally renowned UK legal services’, 2023). The Law Society predicts that a 1% growth in legal services now, could boost UK gross domestic product by between £990 million and £1.2 billion by 2050 (Source: Oxera, ‘Economic Value of English Law’, 2021).

  • Law is a popular course among international students, with over 28,380 studying law at Higher Education Institutions in the UK in 2021/22 (Source: HESA, ‘What do HE students study?’, 2023).

  • English law and UK legal expertise is a significant lever for UK influence and soft power overseas. It underpins 25% of the world’s jurisdictions, and around 80% of cases heard in UK commercial courts are international in nature. The UK is second globally for legal services revenue, used to settle cross-border civil and commercial legal disputes, and is an essential driver of the wider professional and financial services sector (Source: Oxera, ‘Economic Value of English Law’, 2021).

  • The UK has a proud history of legal services that is built on honesty, integrity and trust, underpinned by a world-renowned independent judiciary, making it a world leader among other jurisdictions. With a focus on innovation, the UK legal sector is at the forefront of developing modern technological solutions that are transforming the delivery of legal services across the global marketplace.

GREAT Legal Services

The GREAT Legal Services campaign aims to raise the profile of UK legal professionals and facilitate their growth in high potential markets. As well as supporting the expansion of business networks, influence and generating export wins for our law firms and chambers, the campaign also actively targets and supports SME and regional law firms by understanding the barriers that they face and presenting opportunities for them to expand their global footprint in new and emerging markets.

In the last three years, GREAT Legal Services has facilitated projected export wins of more than £10 million and established a presence in more than 35 countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, the UAE, US, Mexico, Singapore and France.