NALP Bulletin, February 2014

In a December 11, 2013 press release, NALP reported that women and minority partners continued to make small gains in their representation among law firm partners as a whole in 2013, and that the percentage of minority associates has rebounded for the third year in a row after falling in the wake of the recession. However, the percentage of women associates has eroded every year since 2010. The net result is very small net gains in the representation of women and minority lawyers overall. Aggregate statistics about the representation of women and minority attorneys at law firms do not tell the whole story, however.

For instance, among all employers listed in the 2013-2014 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, just 7.10% of partners were minorities and 2.26% of partners were minority women. Moreover, many offices report no minority partners at all. And, in fact, although the most recent information shows that minority representation among associates as a whole has increased for three years in a row after declining from 2009 to 2010, a more detailed look reveals that the lion's share of the increase has been and can continue to be attributed to an increase in Asian associates. Meanwhile, representation of Blacks/African-Americans among associates has slid for four years in a row. This article takes a closer look at representation of specific minority groups at the partnership and associate levels and also compiles information on the demographics of other lawyers such as counsel/of counsel and staff attorneys.

Of the five categories of lawyers tracked in the Directory, minorities in general and minority women specifically are most common by far among associates and staff attorneys. (The term "minorities" as used here includes lawyers identified as Black/African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and multi-racial. The very few Native American, Native Hawaiian, and multi-racial lawyers are not reported out separately.) Minorities accounted for almost 21% of associates and 22% of staff attorneys. Figures for minority women were about 11.3% and 14.4%, respectively. Counsel and "other" attorneys fall in between the lows for partners and the highs for associates and staff attorneys. The racial/ethnic makeup differs quite noticeably across these categories of lawyers. Though Asians are most prevalent across all categories, the degree to which they outnumber other racial/ethnic groups varies. For example, at the staff attorney level, Blacks/African-Americans are outnumbered by Asians as a whole by a relatively small margin, whether looking at Blacks/African-Americans as a whole or women specifically. Representation of Blacks/African-Americans is highest by far among staff attorneys. Representation of Hispanics in this group is about half that of Blacks/African-Americans. (See Table 1.)

Additional information by firm size for partners and associates is shown in Table 2 and Table 3. Although among partners overall Asians are somewhat more prevalent than either Blacks/African-Americans or Hispanic partners, differences are evident depending on the size of the firm. For example, the presence of Blacks/African-Americans and Hispanic partners generally increases with firm size, whereas Asian partners are most prevalent at smaller and the largest firms (Table 2). Among associates, Asians account for half of minority associates at the national level, and over half in the largest firms (Table 3). Comparing these nationwide 2013 figures with those from the previous three years shows that the increase in minority representation from 19.53% in 2010 to 20.93% in 2013 (as reported in the December 11, 2013 press release cited above) is attributable mostly to an increase among Asians, whose representation among associates has increased from 9.39% to 10.48% in the same time period. The percentage of Blacks/African-American associates has been declining since reaching 4.66% in 2009. Although representation of Hispanics had been up to 3.90% in 2012, it fell back to 3.82% in 2013, virtually the same as in 2011, and slightly below the 3.89% figure for 2009.

As might be expected, these figures vary greatly by city. For example, among larger cities — those with 400 or more partners represented in the Directory — Black/African-American associates and partners are most common in Atlanta, while Asian associates and partners are most common in Los Angeles, Orange County, CA, San Francisco, and the San Jose area. Hispanics dominate the minority presence in Miami.

Additional insight on women and minorities at law firms comes from looking at the extent to which women and minorities are represented at each office, rather than for a city or for the nation as a whole. (See Table 4 and Table 5.) Thus, the fact that 7.10% of partners as a whole are minorities does not mean that minorities make up 7.10% of partners at each of the over 1,100 offices and firms represented in the Directory. In fact, one-quarter of offices reported no minority partners and over half reported no minority women partners. Likewise, 13% of offices/firms have no minority associates, and almost one-quarter reported no minority women associates. Offices in firms of 701+ lawyers fare better on these measures at 9% and 17% respectively. Just 29% of offices reported that more than half of associates were women.

The December 11, 2013 press release on this topic can be found at www.nalp.org/lawfirmdiversity_2013. For additional research tables from prior years see:

April 2013
January 2012
January 2011
January 2010
January 2009

Table 1. Women and Minorities at Law Firms in 2013 &mdash Nationwide by Type of Attorney

Figures are based on 1,127 offices/firms covering a total of 110,149 lawyers.

Table 2. Partner Demographics at Law Firms — 2013

Source: The 2013-2014 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. Some city information includes one or more offices in adjacent suburbs. Orange County includes offices in Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Newport Beach. The San Jose area includes offices in Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto and E. Palo Alto, Redwood Shores/Redwood City, San Jose, and Sunnyvale. The Los Angeles area includes offices in Pasadena and Santa Monica. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Short Hills, Roseland, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Westfield, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean/Tysons Corner, Reston, and Alexandria.
The few Native American, Native Hawaiian and multi-racial lawyers reported are included in the overall minority percentages but are not reported separately. For multi-office firms that reported only firmwide figures, the information was attributed to the reporting city if at least 60% of the firms lawyers are in that city.

Table 3. Associate Demographics at Law Firms — 2013

Source: The 2013-2014 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. Some city information includes one or more offices in adjacent suburbs. Orange County includes offices in Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Newport Beach. The San Jose area includes offices in Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto and E. Palo Alto, Redwood Shores/Redwood City, San Jose, and Sunnyvale. The Los Angeles area includes offices in Pasadena and Santa Monica. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Short Hills, Roseland, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Westfield, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean/Tysons Corner, Reston, and Alexandria.
The few Native American, Native Hawaiian and multi-racial lawyers reported are included in the overall minority percentages but are not reported separately. For multi-office firms that reported only firmwide figures, the information was attributed to the reporting city if at least 60% of the firms lawyers are in that city. 

Table 4. Representation of Women and Minorities Among Law Firm Partners — 2013
(percent of offices in each range of representation)

Source: The 2013-2014 NALP Directory of Legal Employers.

Table 5. Representation of Women and Minorities Among Law Firm Associates — 2013 (percent of offices in each range of representation)

Source: The 2013-2014 NALP Directory of Legal Employers.