Revenues in UK legal industry stall

The UK legal industry faced a significant revenue drop in August 2025, with total earnings reaching £4.06bn, a decline of 17% from July's £4.89bn, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
This steep decline marks August as the second-lowest monthly revenue figure for the year, only surpassed by May's numbers. In a slight contrast, revenues for August show a marginal increase of 1.65% compared to the same month in 2024. The overall Services sector, which encompasses the Legal industry, also experienced a downturn with a 7% decrease month on month, totaling £227bn in August against £245bn in July. Furthermore, this figure is down 0.5% from August last year. While the overall economy exhibited a slight growth of 0.1% in August, revised figures indicated a contraction of 0.1% in July. Julie Norris, Legal Services Regulatory Partner at Kingsley Napley, comments “August is usually a slow month given holiday season so today’s figures are hardly surprising especially considering the backdrop of a sluggish economy overall. Many are saying September and October are proving tricky months until businesses know the impact of the Autumn Budget. To that end law firm leaders must continue to be prudent in their financial planning and with regard to their cost base in particular”