Pay gap difference in legal jobs revealed

New research has suggested that there is a substantial difference between the earnings of men and women in the legal sector.

The Law Society has conducted a new study that has revealed male solicitors earn an average of £60,000 a year, while females can expect to be paid £41,000 over the same period for the same job.

This £19,000 gender pay gap represents a 32% difference in pay, the body stated.

According to the Chair of the Association of Women Solicitors, Fiona Fitzgerald, more females are entering the legal sector but pay and progression is still being stifled.

'The pay gap demonstrates not only that many women are not equally rewarded for equal work, but most significantly, that women are not making the progress through the profession that they should,' she stated.

A survey from Legal Business as reported in The Guardian found that a small circle of Britain's top lawyers took home £1.3m in 2005.