TheCorporateCounsel.net

The Minority Corporate Counsel Association recently released its annual report on law firm diversity, and the results aren’t terribly inspiring. Here’s an excerpt from the summary:

In assessing a decade of law firm employee demographics across more than 200 firms representing most of the AmLaw100 and the NLJ250, we found an increase in the overall share of working attorneys identifying as members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups including multiracial, from 14% in 2010 to 20% in 2020. In 2020, 89% of partners across surveyed U.S. laws firms identified as White/Caucasian, down from over 93% in 2010. Meanwhile, representation of historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups improved more noticeably among summer associates (from 28% in 2010 to 36% in 2020) and associates (from 21% in 2010 to 28% in 2020).

This minimal progress did not boost representation for all underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. While the share of Asian, Hispanic or Latinx, and multiracial attorneys at firms increased slightly between 2010 and 2020, there was no change in the share of associates and partners who are African American or Black. And surveyed firms reported having very few Indigenous and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander attorneys.

Gender disparities in representation also persist at law firms, as does low representation of other historically underrepresented groups. About 39% of all attorneys at surveyed firms are women, including 48% of associates but just 26% of partners. This year, MCCA collected data on attorneys who identify as non-binary and military veterans. In 2020, firms reported that attorneys who identified as follows: non-binary (0%), LGBTQ (4%), military veterans (less than 2%), or as having a disability (1%).

The survey notes that the problem isn’t just getting people in the door at law firms, it’s keeping them there.  For instance, the survey reports that while 36% of summer associates who received full time offers were from underrepresented groups, 32% of departing associates came from those groups.

Despite the glacial rate of progress on the partnership front and the associate retention challenges that firms face, my own anecdotal experience suggests that there’s reason for optimism on law firm diversity – if for no other reason than clients have made it crystal clear that it matters to them.  As a result, more and more firms are committing to initiatives like the Mansfield Rule certification process, which requires law firms to focus not just on diversity in hiring, but in ensuring that lawyers from underrepresented groups are provided advancement opportunities as well.

– John Jenkins