Associates

NALP’s newest findings on law firm demographics reveal that law firms have recouped the ground lost when minority associate figures fell in 2010 following widespread associate layoffs in 2009. However, the representation of women among associates declined slightly for the fourth year in a row and for only the fourth time since NALP started compiling this information in the 1990s. Among associates, the percentage of women had increased from 38.99 percent in 1993 to 45.66 percent in 2009, before falling back each year since, to 44.79 percent in 2013. Over the same period, minority associate percentages have increased from 8.36 percent to 20.93 percent, more than recovering from a slight decline from 2009 to 2010. Representation of minority women among associates in the two most recent years just barely exceeded the 11.02 percent figure for 2009. See Table 1.

Partners

In 2013, the percentage of both women and minority partners in law firms across the nation increased a small amount over 2012. Representation of minority women specifically was up by a small amount, as was representation of minorities as a whole. During most of the 21 years that NALP has been compiling this information, law firms had made steady, if somewhat slow progress in increasing the presence of women and minorities in both the partner and associate ranks. In 2013 that slow upward trend continued for partners, with minorities accounting for 7.10 percent of partners in the nation’s major firms, and women accounting for 20.22 percent of the partners in these firms. In 2012, the figures were 6.71 percent and 19.91 percent, respectively. Nonetheless, the total change since 1993, the first year for which NALP has comparable aggregate information, has been only marginal. At that time minorities accounted for 2.55 percent of partners and women accounted for 12.27 percent of partners. At just 2.26 percent of partners in 2013, minority women continue to be the most dramatically underrepresented group at the partnership level, a pattern that holds across all firm sizes and most jurisdictions. This is despite small but consistent year-over-year increases. The representation of minority women partners is somewhat higher, 2.74 percent, at the largest firms of more than 700 lawyers. Minority men, meanwhile, account for just 4.84 percent of partners this year, compared with 4.55 percent in 2012.

Lawyers Overall

The net effect of these changes was that, for lawyers as a whole, representation of women (both minority and non-minority) was up by only about one-tenth of a percentage point and remains lower than in 2009. The representation of minorities among lawyers as a whole inched up in 2013; the representation of women among all lawyers increased by a smaller amount, and all of this gain can be attributed to increases in women among the partnership ranks. Since this overall figure for women fell in both 2010 and 2011, the small increases in the past two years mean that the overall percentage for women remains only slightly higher than in 2010. Minorities now make up 13.36 percent of lawyers at these law firms, compared with 12.91 percent in 2012. Just under one-third of lawyers at these same firms are women — 32.78 percent in 2013 compared with 32.67 percent in 2012, 32.61 percent in 2011, and 32.69 percent in 2010 — all lower than the 32.97 percent mark reached in 2009. Minority women now account for 6.49 percent of lawyers at these firms, up slightly from 6.32 percent in 2012, and finally exceeding the 6.33 percent figure for 2009. 

Summer Associates

The representation of women and minorities in the summer associate ranks compares much more favorably to the population of recent law school graduates. According to the American Bar Association, since 2000, the percentage of minority law school graduates has ranged from 20 percent to 24 percent, while women have accounted for 46 percent to 49 percent of graduates, with the high point coming in the mid-2000s. In 2013, women comprise 45.32 percent of summer associates, minorities account for 29.51 percent, and 15.78 percent of summer associates were minority women. However, all of these measures are lower than in 2012. Similar to the case with associates, the percentage of women summer associates has declined in the two most recent years, falling below the level of 2009. The percentage of minorities did not quite hold steady, at 29.51 percent compared with 29.55 percent in 2012, and the percentage of minority women dropped from 16.26 percent to 15.78 percent. Both these measures, however, remain above the level of years prior to 2012. In addition, the overall number of summer associates remains off by almost 30 percent compared with 2009, despite increases in the numbers after they bottomed out in 2010 and 2011.

These are the most significant findings of NALP’s recent analyses of the 2013-2014 NALP Directory of Legal Employers (NDLE), the annual compendium of legal employer data published by NALP.

“Since the recession, we have seen the figures for women associates drop in each of four successive years. While minority associate numbers also dipped immediately after the recession, they quickly rebounded, while the numbers for women have not. This is a significant historical shift, and represents a divergence in the previously parallel stories of women and minorities in large law firms,” said James Leipold, NALP’s executive director. 

“While the percentage of women partners, small as it is, has continued to grow each year, sustained incremental growth in the future is at risk if the percentage of women associates continues to inch downwards. This should be a red flag for everyone in legal education and the law firm world,” Leipold concluded.

Patterns of Representation Vary by Geography

Analyses for the 40 cities with the most lawyers represented in the directory reveal considerable variations in measures of racial/ethnic diversity. Representation of women among partners ranges from about 11.8 percent in Salt Lake City and Northern Virginia to just over one-quarter in Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, and San Francisco. Percentages for minority partners range from just 1.42 percent in Nashville to a high of 33.42 percent in Miami. The newest NDLE data also reveal that representation of minority women among partners varies considerably by geographic location, with firms in Miami reporting the highest level of representation, at 9.16 percent. This contrasts with 8 cities where minority women make up less than 1 percent of partners. Likewise percentages for women associates ranged from 26.55 percent in Salt Lake City to close to half or more in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. For minority associates the range was from less than 8 percent in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Salt Lake City to over one-third in Miami and the San Jose area. Figures for minority women associates range from 1.77 percent in Salt Lake City to 15-20 percent in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the San Jose area.

Among the largest of these cities (those with more than 900 partners represented), Los Angeles and San Francisco show the highest representation of women, minorities, and minority women among both partners and associates. Minorities account for 13.19 percent and 11.24 percent of partners in these two cities, respectively, and women account for 21.12 percent and 25.64 percent of partners, respectively. Figures for minority women partners are 4.40 percent and 4.07 percent, respectively. Firms in Seattle and Washington, D.C., also slightly exceed national averages at least slightly on these measures.

Among smaller cities, Miami exceeds national averages, and a number of cities including Austin, San Diego, Northern Virginia, San Jose, and Orange County, CA, do so with respect to minority associates. In Miami, women account for 24.01 percent of partners; minorities, many of whom are Hispanic, account for 33.42 percent of partners; and 9.16 percent of partners are minority women. In the San Jose area almost 37 percent of associates are minorities and almost 19 percent are minority women. In Orange County, CA, almost one-quarter of associates are minorities. In Austin, San Diego, and the Northern Virginia area the figures are 22-24 percent though the percentage of minority women specifically is somewhat below average in each.
 

In many other cities, the picture is considerably different: Cities that are below average on most or all measures and considerably so with respect to minorities include Charlotte, Kansas City, and Nashville. Numerous others, such as Boston, Minneapolis, Portland, OR, and St. Louis are at or above average with respect to women, but lag on minority representation. In still other cities, such as Cincinnati, Columbus, Denver, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Northern New Jersey, Phoenix, and Raleigh, only the percentage of women partners or associates is at or above average. These findings reflect in part considerable contrasts in the population as a whole in these areas. For example, according to recent population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the Grand Rapids and Pittsburgh areas is only about 20 percent minority (that is, Hispanic or non-White.) In contrast, at over 70 percent Hispanic or non-White, the population of Los Angeles can be characterized as majority minority. But minority representation within law firms does not always parallel minority representation within the overall population of an area. For example, in the Charlotte area, almost half the population is minority, but this diversity is not reflected among lawyers working in law firms in that city.

Among summer associates, minorities have the highest representation in Miami, at half, followed by Columbus, Los Angeles, and San Jose, where 39-40 percent are minority. Representation of minority women among summer associates is highest in Columbus, Tampa, and Portland.

Lawyers with Disabilities

The directory also collects information about lawyers with disabilities, though this information is much less widely reported than information on race/ethnicity and gender, making it much harder to say anything definitive about the representation of lawyers with disabilities. The information that is available suggests that partners with disabilities (of any race or gender) are scarce, with about one-third of 1 percent of partners reported as having a disability both in 2012 and in 2013, though the figures are higher than the less than one-quarter of one percent figures for the two years prior to that (2010 and 2011.) Similarly, associates with disabilities account for a tiny fraction, just 0.26 percent, of associates in law firms, but again this, along with the 2012 figure of 0.24 percent is higher than in the previous two years. Although the presence of individuals with disabilities among law school graduates is not precisely known, other NALP research suggests that fewer than 2 percent of graduates self-identify as having a disability. Disability figures for partners, associates, and all attorneys with disabilities are reported in Table 4.

Breadth of Lawyer Representation in the NALP Directory
 

The 2013-2014 NDLE includes attorney race/ethnicity and gender information for over 110,000 partners, associates, and other lawyers in 1,127 offices, and for over 6,600 summer associates in 767 offices nationwide. Information on disability status was reported for just over 75,000 of these lawyers. For purposes of the figures in Tables 1-3, minority attorneys include those whose race or ethnicity is Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander, and those of multi-racial heritage, as reported by the law firms in the NDLE. The partner numbers include both equity and non-equity partners.

The 2013-2014 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, which provides the individual firm listings on which these aggregate analyses are based, is available online at www.nalpdirectory.com.

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