england-and-wales
Why are Cardiff and Wales apparently host to so much of the English legal sector?
<p>I'm guessing this is going to be contentious but very likely ultimately in scope here though not completely certain.</p>

<p>They aren't.</p>
<p>From a <a href="https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-10/the-legal-sector-in-wales-a-rapid-review.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2019 Welsh government report</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In comparison with England, Wales is somewhat underserved on a “law firm per head of population” basis. The SRA
estimates that, when nationwide general populations are compared, there is one law firm per 5,472 people in England,
compared with one law firm per 7,962 people in Wales. (p11)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The report cites 3500 practicing solicitors, which compares to about 150000 in England and Wales in total (using <a href="https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/research-publications/regulated-community-statistics/data/population_solicitors/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2019 figures</a> from the SRA). The population of Wales in 2019 was 3.1m and England was 56.2m, so there are also fewer solicitors per capita in Wales compared to England.</p>
<p>In the same year, there were about 17000 practicing barristers in England and Wales, of which about 300 were in Wales. This is a similar ratio as for solicitors (report p18).</p>
<p>The English numbers are very heavily skewed by London. If we compare Wales to a given region of England other than London, it comes out more favourably.</p>
<p>Within Wales, Cardiff hosts a disproportionate number of lawyers (p11 of the report). It is the seat of the Welsh government and responsible for an outsized contribution to the Welsh economy: 12% of the population, 20% share of Welsh gross value added, 30% of the law firms.</p>
<p>The report does identify some specific examples of large legal practices or well-regarded barristers' chambers. But overall, Wales does not seem to have a disproportionate share of the legal sector. London <em>does</em>, and Wales is more comparable to non-London parts of England, supporting a typical number of lawyers doing local work, plus a few higher-profile outliers.</p>
