NALP: Tips on collecting demographic information for the NALP Directory of Legal Employers
The overall percentage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) lawyers reported in the 2018 NALP Directory of Legal Employers (NDLE) increased to 2.86%, compared with 2.64% in the 2017 NDLE. Increases were seen across all lawyer types and ranged from less than a 0.1 percentage point gain for counsel and non-traditional track attorneys to about a 0.35 percentage point gain for associates. The percentage of offices reporting LGBT counts has been relatively stable at about 90% of offices since 2008. About half of these reporting offices reported at least one LGBT lawyer among partners and associates in 2018.
Analyzing decades of NALP Employment Report & Salary Survey data as part of NALP’s 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition Bulletin.
University of California Berkeley School of Law’s Terrence J. Galligan explores the history of NALP from the years 1990-2008 as part of the association’s 50th Anniversary celebration.
2026 NALP Directory of Legal Employers Information
One area that is explored less often is the gender diversity of the legal professionals who work in administrative roles, such as recruiting and career services. In contrast to the statistics for attorneys, the majority of these roles are occupied by women. I used the NALP Directory of Legal Employers and NALP Directory of Law Schools to do my own quick tally of gender diversity among recruiting contacts at the Am Law top 25 law firms and the U.S. News & World Report top 25 law schools.
Many job candidates are now taking the quality of law firm alumni relations programs into consideration when researching and evaluating their employment options.
Data collection for the NALP Directory of Legal Employers will open on December 1, 2025, and 2026 profiles will be published in January, much earlier than usual. Here's what you need to know about changes for 2026.
Representation of LGBTQ representation among lawyers for 2019, according to NALP's Directory of Legal Employers.
Recent findings on the salaries, job types, and other key statistics related to military veterans among lawyers and law students, including data on veteran lawyers who work in government and private practice.
Learn about changes to the NALP Directory of Legal Employers for 2026, including an earlier deadline and updates to the demographics data.
