Economic plans for legal services

The UK government has set the ambition of achieving the highest sustained economic growth in the G7. Learn how its economic plans will affect legal services and impact how your firm operates.

03 Jul 2025

3 minutes read

Economic growth is one of the Labour Party's five missions for Britain.

The UK government is now working on strategies to achieve this.

The success of our legal sector provides a platform for growth across the UK. Legal services enable UK businesses to grow. They are a staple of our high streets and keep investment flowing.

The government’s missions can only be achieved if legal services are placed at the centre of its economic plans.

Latest announcements

Industrial strategy

The government’s industrial strategy outlines its economic plans for the next 10 years.

We’re pleased to see many of our recommendations included in the industrial strategy. These include:

prioritising legal services as part of the Professional and Business Services Sector Plan
supporting small- and medium-sized firms to adopt AI and technology
continuing level 7 apprenticeship funding
commitments to strengthen English and Welsh law

Read our round-up of the industrial strategy.

Trade strategy

The government’s trade strategy sets out how it plans to achieve long-term economic growth through trade.

The strategy includes lots of positive outcomes for legal services, including:

recognising the value of trade in services to the UK economy
improving recognition of UK legal qualifications to make it easier for UK solicitors to practice overseas
aligning regulatory standards to help UK legal firms operating abroad
targeted support to help small- and medium-sized firms expand overseas
a commitment to promote English law and UK legal expertise in international commercial contracts and dispute resolution

The trade strategy includes many of our recommendations.

We’re also pleased to see the strategy reference our work to reduce barriers for foreign lawyers in Japan.

Spending review

The UK government’s spending review will be used to set the budgets for government departments. This includes long-term investments.

Crucially, it commits to funding the delivery of the industrial and trade strategies for at least three years.

The spending review included announcements on justice and Home Office spending, such as:

a 2.4% increase in day-to-day spending and 3% increase in capital spending for the Ministry of Justice
£450m in additional investment per year for the courts system by 2028-29
£2.4m to launch a new Brand Wales programme, promoting Welsh investment opportunities and exports around the world

The Law Society’s president, Richard Atkinson, said the spending review: “… gives the public hope that the justice system is a growing priority for the government.

“However, all parts of the justice system have been starved of investment for decades. It will take long-term sustained funding to fix it, including in civil and criminal legal aid to address the crises there.”

Impact on solicitors and firms

The UK government’s plans for economic growth will affect how solicitors practise and run their businesses.

The government’s economic strategies have the potential to:

ease the financial burden on small- and medium-sized firms
improve tax arrangements and investment opportunities for large firms
make it easier for UK lawyers to practise internationally
address retention and recruitment challenges
fix our crumbling courts infrastructure
boost investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and lawtech
unlock the untapped potential of legal services in Wales

For this to happen, we must make sure the UK government recognises the huge economic contribution of legal services.

Share your views

We will continue to engage with policymakers to make sure they hear your challenges and priorities.

We would love to hear your views.

To share feedback with our team, email campaigns@lawsociety.org.uk.

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What we're doing

Spending review consultation

In February 2025, we responded to the UK government’s consultation on its comprehensive spending review.

We called on the government to:

clear the £1.3 billion court repairs backlog
invest in court staff, judges, and lawyers to address case backlogs
review criminal legal aid rates annually, extend increases for housing legal aid to other civil areas, and reform the legal aid means test
support the Ministry of Justice to update the Legal Aid Agency’s IT infrastructure
retain level 7 apprenticeship funding and expand it to Wales
create grants, loans, or tax relief for small and medium-sized law firms to develop lawtech and AI skills
allow legal partnerships access to full expensing and reform business rates to support small and medium-sized law firms

Download our full spending review response (PDF 395 KB)

Trade strategy call for views

In January 2025, we responded to the Department of Business and Trade's call for views on their new trade strategy.

In our response, we called on the government to:

reduce barriers to market access for UK lawyers and law firms operating overseas
allow UK solicitors to practice under their home title in foreign jurisdictions
make visa processes and short-term secondments easier
engage with key markets such as the US, EU, China and India to address specific barriers faced by UK legal professionals
provide practical tools and support for law firms, especially small and medium-sized firms
use free trade agreements and other initiatives to unlock growth opportunities in key markets
promote English law as a valuable asset in global trade

Download our full trade strategy response (PDF 199 KB)