International demand for UK legal services is surging, with exports at record levels, according to Law Society research.
Chancery Lane’s International Data Insights report, published this week, found the legal sector’s exports have grown by more than 60% in the past five years to £10.97bn, with the EU and US accounting for nearly two-thirds of that revenue.
English law continues to dominate, governing £250tn of global derivatives transactions, half of international seaborne trade and about 40% of international business and financial transactions.
London outpaces its competitors and maintains genuine international appeal: for example, almost all the caseload (96%) at London Court of International Arbitration involved at least one non-UK party, while the London Commercial Court delivered almost twice as many judgments as its closest competitor, Dubai, and more than twice as many as New York.
Law Society president Mark Evans said: ‘The UK’s legal services are a major global success story.’
