The legal professions compared
One table, 7 regulators, 19 professions. Nobody else publishes this, because each regulator publishes only its own register and none of them links to another.
Two kinds of number appear here and they are never mixed. Collected is what this site counted from the register, on the dates given in methodology; it is this site’s own figure and it is answerable for it. Published is what a regulator says, quoted with attribution and a provenance flag on that profession’s own page. Where a register was not collected the cell says so rather than showing a zero, and where a collection did not run to completion the figure reads “at least”.
| Profession | Regulator | Collected | Reserved activities | Protected title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patent and trade mark attorneys | IPReg | 3,924 | 4 | Patent attorney; trade mark attorney |
| Licensed conveyancers | CLC | 2,410 | 3 | Licensed conveyancer |
| Certificated enforcement agents | HMCTS | at least 1,211 | 0 | Certificated enforcement agent |
| Notaries public | Faculty Office | 817 | 4 | Notary public |
| Costs lawyers | CLSB | 789 | 3 | Costs lawyer |
| Claims management companies | FCA | — | 0 | None. The activity, not the title, is regulated |
| Regulated immigration advisers | IAA | — | 0 | Regulated immigration adviser |
| Solicitors | SRA | — | 0 | Solicitor |
| Barristers | BSB | — | 0 | Barrister |
| Chartered legal executives and CILEX paralegals | CRL | — | 0 | Chartered legal executive |
| Chartered accountants authorised for probate | ICAEW | — | 0 | None specific to probate |
| Insolvency practitioners | RPBs | — | 0 | Insolvency practitioner |
| Civil and family mediators | CMC / FMC | — | 0 | None |
| Paralegals outside CILEX | none | — | 0 | None |
| Will writers | none | — | 0 | None |
| McKenzie friends | none | — | 0 | None |
| Expert witnesses | none | — | 0 | None |
| Legal secretaries | none | — | 0 | None |
| Legal academics | none | — | 0 | None |
Statutory basis and entry route
| Profession | Legal basis of the title | Entry route |
|---|---|---|
| Patent and trade mark attorneys | Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ss.275, 276 and 282 | A science or other degree, then the Foundation and Final examinations of the Patent Examination Board or CITMA/Queen Mary courses, with two years' supervised practice before registration. An IP Litigation Certificate and a Higher Courts Litigation Certificate are separate awards on top. |
| Licensed conveyancers | Administration of Justice Act 1985 s.11 | CLC examinations in conveyancing law and practice, or probate where the licence extends to it, plus supervised practice; a licence is issued annually and names the permitted activities. |
| Certificated enforcement agents | Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 sch.12; taking control of goods without a certificate is an offence | Application to a County Court judge, who must be satisfied the applicant is a fit and proper person, knows the law, and has lodged a bond. A certificate lasts two years and must be re-applied for. |
| Notaries public | Public Notaries Act 1801; unqualified practice is an offence | Admission by the Master of the Faculties. A qualified lawyer route and a non-lawyer route both exist; both require the Notarial Practice Course, and a new notary practises under supervision for two years before a full practising certificate. |
| Costs lawyers | Legal Services Act 2007 sch.4; the Association of Costs Lawyers is the approved regulator and the CLSB its regulatory arm | The CLSB's three-year Costs Lawyer Qualification, taken while working in costs, followed by a practising certificate renewed annually. |
| Claims management companies | Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; regulated by the FCA since 1 April 2019 | FCA authorisation for the claims-management activities the firm intends to carry on, with approved persons for the senior management functions. There is no individual qualification. |
| Regulated immigration advisers | Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 part V; giving immigration advice while unregulated is an offence | Registration with the Immigration Advice Authority at level 1, 2 or 3, each a wider scope than the last, assessed by examination; or exemption as a member of a designated professional body such as the SRA, BSB or CILEx Regulation. |
| Solicitors | Solicitors Act 1974 | A law degree or conversion, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, and two years of qualifying work experience. |
| Barristers | Legal Services Act 2007 sch.4; call to the Bar by one of the four Inns of Court | A law degree or conversion, the Bar course, call by an Inn, and pupillage. |
| Chartered legal executives and CILEX paralegals | Legal Services Act 2007 sch.4 | CILEX qualifications taken while working, then authorisation by CILEx Regulation for the practice rights sought. |
| Chartered accountants authorised for probate | Legal Services Act 2007 sch.4, for probate activities only | ICAEW membership plus the ICAEW probate accreditation. |
| Insolvency practitioners | Insolvency Act 1986 s.390: acting as an insolvency practitioner without authorisation is an offence | The JIEB examinations and authorisation by one of the recognised professional bodies, with a bond. |
| Civil and family mediators | None. Mediation is not a reserved activity | Accredited training and, for family work, Family Mediation Council accreditation; neither is required by law. |
| Paralegals outside CILEX | None | No required route. Voluntary qualifications from NALP, the Institute of Paralegals and CILEX. |
| Will writers | None. Will writing is not a reserved activity | No required route, no required qualification, and no regulator. This is the single most consequential fact on this site. |
| McKenzie friends | None. A McKenzie friend has no right of audience and assists by the court's permission | None. Charging for the service is lawful and unregulated. |
| Expert witnesses | None. Duties come from CPR Part 35 and the court's control of evidence | Expertise in the field, plus voluntary accreditation from the Expert Witness Institute or the Academy of Experts. |
| Legal secretaries | None | ILSPA qualifications; nothing is required. |
| Legal academics | None | An academic career. The Society of Legal Scholars is a learned society, not a regulator. |
Disciplinary transparency
Whether a register states the disciplinary position at all is itself a finding. Two of these regulators state it on every entry including the negative — the CLSB writes “There are no disciplinary or regulatory decisions currently published about this person” and IPReg writes “No history found” — which is what makes a clean record countable rather than assumed from a missing field. The others omit the field when there is nothing to report, so absence proves nothing.
| Profession | Entries collected | With a published finding | Register states the negative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notaries public | 817 | 0 | No |
| Costs lawyers | 789 | 31 | Yes |
| Licensed conveyancers | 2,410 | 0 | No |
| Patent and trade mark attorneys | 3,924 | 0 | Yes |
| Certificated enforcement agents | 1,211 | 0 | No |
Pay
Not by profession — no such figure exists — but by the occupation code the official statistics put each profession in, which for most of them is a residual category shared with several others.
| Profession | SOC 2020 | Occupation group |
|---|---|---|
| Patent and trade mark attorneys | 2419, 3549 | Legal professionals n.e.c.; Business associate professionals n.e.c. |
| Licensed conveyancers | 2419 | Legal professionals n.e.c. |
| Certificated enforcement agents | 7122, 6312, 7122 | Debt, rent and other cash collectors; Parking and civil enforcement occupations |
| Notaries public | 2419 | Legal professionals n.e.c. |
| Costs lawyers | 3520 | Legal associate professionals |
| Claims management companies | — | no occupation code: the classification does not contain this profession |
| Regulated immigration advisers | 3520, 2419 | Legal associate professionals; Legal professionals n.e.c. |
| Solicitors | 2412 | Solicitors and lawyers |
| Barristers | 2411 | Barristers and judges |
| Chartered legal executives and CILEX paralegals | 2419 | Legal professionals n.e.c. |
What each of those occupations earns, with the reliability of every figure.
No fees column, and why
Practising-certificate and registration fees belong on this table and are not on it. They change annually, none was read from a regulator’s own current schedule when this was built, and a fee column quietly a year out of date is worse than no fee column: somebody would budget from it.