NALP Bulletin, January 2012

In a November 3, 2011, press release, NALP reported that by 2011 law firms had made up for some, but not all, of the decreases in diversity figures occurring between 2009 and 2010. While the representation of minorities as a whole among associates increased in 2011 after sliding in 2010, representation of women among associates declined a bit again for the second year in a row.

Aggregate statistics about the representation of women and minority lawyers at law firms do not tell the whole story, however. For instance, among all employers listed in the 2011-2012 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, just 6.56% of partners were minorities and 2.04% of partners were minority women, and yet many offices report no minority partners at all.

And in fact, although the most recent information suggests that the temporary setback for minority representation among associates as a whole has been reversed — rising from 19.53% in 2010 to 19.90% in 2011 after declining from 19.67% in 2009 — a more detailed look reveals that that the bounce-back can be attributed entirely to an increase in Asian associates. Finally, the representation of minorities by specific race and ethnicity varies considerably by size of law firm and geography. This article takes a closer look at representation of specific minority groups at the partnership and associate levels.

Among partners overall, Asians are somewhat more prevalent than either Black or Hispanic partners (Table 1). (The term minorities as used here includes lawyers identified as Black, 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.) Differences are evident, however, when comparing firms of differing sizes. For example, the presence of Black and Hispanic partners generally increases with firm size, whereas Asian partners are most prevalent at smaller and the largest firms. Percentages of female minority partners are generally highest in the largest firms, although for Asian women percentages at the smallest and largest firms are nearly identical.

At the city level, the presence of Black partners is highest in Atlanta, followed by Richmond and Detroit, both of which are much smaller than Atlanta in terms of partner counts. The presence of Black female partners exceeds 1% in just nine cities: Atlanta, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, Miami, Nashville, Raleigh, Tampa, Washington, DC, and Wilmington. Except for Atlanta, Washington, DC, and Miami, total partner counts in these cities are a few hundred or less. Black partners account for less than 0.5% of partners in Grand Rapids, Minneapolis, Orlando, Orange County, CA, and San Diego.

Over half of minority partners in Austin, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando, Phoenix, and Tampa are Hispanic. In each of these cities except Orlando, the presence of female Hispanic partners is also at or above average. Conversely, in 7 of 44 cities, fewer than 0.5% of partners are Hispanic. Asian partners are most common in the Los Angeles and Orange County, CA, areas, and in the San Francisco and San Jose areas. Asian women are most frequent in these same cities.

Among associates, Asians account for almost half of all minority associates at the national level, and in the largest firms (Table 2). Comparing these 2011 figures with those from 2010 shows that the increase in minority representation from 19.53% in 2010 to 19.90% in 2011 (as reported in the November 3, 2011 press release cited above) is attributable to an increase among Asians, whose representation increased from 9.39% to 9.65%. The percentage of Black associates actually declined a bit, from 4.36% in 2010 to 4.29% in 2011, compared to 4.66% in 2009. Representation of Hispanics was essentially unchanged, at 3.83% in 2011, compared with 3.81% in 2010 — and still lower than the 3.89% in 2009.

As is the case with partners, cities vary a great deal on these measures. For example, Black associates are most common in Atlanta, followed by Indianapolis, Charlotte, and Nashville, all cities with far fewer associates than Atlanta. In each of these cities Blacks account for over half of minority associates. The percentage of Black female associates was also highest in these cities, along with Washington, DC. Every city reported at least some Black associates and Black female associates. The pattern for Hispanic associates is similar to that at the partner level, with representation highest by far in Miami, followed by Austin, Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, and Orlando. Percentage representation was less than 1% in a few cities. The leading cities for Asian associates — both overall and for women specifically — are San Jose, followed by San Francisco, the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, New York City, and Seattle. Every city reported at least some Asian associates.

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. Thus, the fact that 6.56% of partners as a whole are minorities does not mean that minorities make up 6% of partners at each of the over 1,300 offices and firms represented in the Directory. In fact, as Table 3 shows, about 29% of the offices/firms reported no minority partners, and 57% reported no minority women partners. Both of these figures are higher at the largest firms, and most offices — 91% — report at least one woman partner, but less than half — about 47% — have more than the average 19% of women partners.

Likewise, over 17% of offices/firms have no minority associates, and 43% exceed the average figures of about 19%. (See Table 4.) Over 27% of offices reported no minority women associates. In each case, small firms are most likely to have no minority associates and the largest firms least likely to have no minority associates. However, firms of 501-700 lawyers are most similar to the smallest firms on these measures. Not quite one-third of offices reported that more than half of associates were women.

The November 3, 2011 press release on this topic can be found at www.nalp.org/2011_law_firm_diversity.

Table 1. Partner Demographics at Law Firms — 2011

Source: The 2011-2012 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 Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Roseland, West Orange, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Westfield, Bridgewater, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean/Tysons Corner, Reston, Vienna, Fairfax, 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 firm's lawyers are in that city.

Table 2. Associate Demographics at Law Firms — 2011

Source: The NALP 2011-2012 National 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 Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Roseland, West Orange, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Westfield, Bridgewater, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean/Tysons Corner, Reston, Vienna, Fairfax, 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 firm's lawyers are in that city.

Table 3. Representation of Women and Minorities Among Law Firm Partners — 2011
(percent of offices in each range of representation)

Source: 2011-2012 NALP Directory of Legal Employers

Table 4. Representation of Women and Minorities Among Law Firm Associates — 2011
(percent of offices in each range of representation)

Source: 2011-2012 NALP Directory of Legal Employers