NALP Bulletin, May 2015

In a February 17, 2015 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 2014, and that the percentage of minority associates has rebounded for the fourth year in a row after falling in the wake of the recession. Although the percentage of women associates increased a bit after eroding from 2010 to 2013, it has yet to go above the 45% mark reached in 2009-2012. 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 2014-2015 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, just 7.33% of partners were minorities and 2.45% 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 four 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 five 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 and non-traditional track/staff attorneys.

Of the four categories of lawyers tracked in the Directory, minorities in general and minority women specifically are most common by far among associates and non-traditional track/staff attorneys — hereafter referred to as 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 about 21.6% of associates and almost 21% of staff attorneys. Figures for minority women were about 11.5% and 13.3%, respectively. The "counsel" category falls in between the lows for partners and the highs for associates and staff attorneys, but more closely resembles partners in this regard. 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, with the largest differences among associates being where Asians outnumber Blacks/African-Americans by almost 3 to 1. Representation of Blacks/African-Americans specifically is highest by far among staff attorneys, at 6.47%, compared with 4.01% of associates and less than 2% of partners and counsel. Among Hispanics figures range from 4.56% of staff attorneys to just over 2% of partners and counsel. (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 Hispanic partners generally increases with firm size, whereas among Black/African-American partners that progress stalls at firms of 501-700 lawyers (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 2014 figures with those from the previous three years shows that the increase in minority representation from 19.53% in 2010 to 21.63% in 2014 (as reported in the February 17, 2015 press release cited above) is attributable mostly to an increase among Asians, whose representation among associates has increased from 9.39% to 10.80% in the same time period. The percentage of Blacks/African-American associates has been declining since reaching 4.66% in 2009. At 3.95% of associates, Hispanic representation has gone up only slightly from 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 and Detroit, 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 7.33% of partners as a whole are minorities does not mean that minorities make up 7.33% of partners at each of the almost 1,100 offices and firms represented in the Directory. In fact, over 21% of offices reported no minority partners and almost half reported no minority women partners. Likewise, 10% of offices/firms have no minority associates, and almost 21% reported no minority women associates. Offices in firms of 701+ lawyers fare better on these measures at 7% and 18% respectively. Just 29% of offices reported that more than half of associates were women. Notably, the percentage of offices with no minority partners decreased by 2 or 3 percentage points, as did the percentage of offices with no minority associates or no minority women associates; however, compared with the 50.9% of offices where less than 45% of associates were women, the figure for 2013 was lower by about 3 percentage points. That is, the percentage of offices where less than 45% of associates were women increased in 2014 compared with 2014.

The source for Tables 2-5 is the 2014-2015 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. The February 17, 2015 press release on this topic can be found at www.nalp.org/lawfirmdiversity_feb2015.

Table 1. Women and Minorities at Law Firms in 2014 — Nationwide by Type of Attorney

Figures are based on 1,056 offices/firms covering a total of 111,077 lawyers.

Table 2. Partner Demographics at Law Firms — 2014

Source: The 2014-2015 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 and Santa Monica. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Short Hills Roseland, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, 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 firm-wide figures, the information was attributed to the reporting city if at least 60% of the firm’s lawyers are in that city.

Table 3. Associate Demographics at Law Firms — 2014

Source: The 2014-2015 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 and Santa Monica. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Short Hills Roseland, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, 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 firm-wide figures, the information was attributed to the reporting city if at least 60% of the firm's lawyers are in that city.

Table 4. Representation of Women and Minorities Among Law Firm Partners — 2014
(percent of offices in each range of representation)

Table 5. Representation of Women and Minorities Among Law Firm Associates — 2014
(percent of offices in each range of representation)