NALP Bulletin+, March 2024

NALP's 2023 Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms shows that overall, women and people of color continued to make incremental improvements in their representation at major U.S. law firms as compared with 2022. For the time ever, women made up the majority of associates (50.31%), and associates of color experienced record annual growth (+1.8 percentage points) in representation — now comprising 30.15% of all associates. At the partnership level, women also saw their largest annual increase since NALP began tracking law firm diversity data more than 30 years ago, with the share of women partners improving to 27.76% (+1.1 percentage points). Representation of partners of color also increased by 0.6 percentage point to 12.01%. Despite these gains, both women and partners of color remain substantially underrepresented within the partnership ranks.

While these are national figures, exploring the data on an individual office basis provides further insights as percentages can vary by factors such as firm size, office size, and geography. Looking at the percentage of offices that do not have any partners or associates who are people of color, or which lack representation of lawyers from specific racial/ethnic groups, provides another way of evaluating the diversity, or lack thereof, within U.S. law firms.

Table 1 shows the representation of women and people of color within the partnership ranks at U.S. law firms in 2023 by firm size. The first column for each group reports the percentage of all partners represented by that subset of the partner population. For example, just under 28% of partners were women in 2023. The second column indicates the percentage of offices that reported that they did not have any partners represented from that subset of the partner population. In the case of women, just over 2% of offices indicated that they had zero women partners. While most offices had at least one woman partner in 2023, about 14% did not have at least one partner of color, and 31% did not have at least one woman partner of color.

Table 2 further explores the data for Asian, Black, and Latinx partners, specifically. Data are not broken out separately within the table for multiracial, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander partners due to the small number of partners reported within these groups, but overall percentages are included in the table footnotes.

About 37% of offices reported no Asian partners, 45% had no Latinx partners, and 51% had no Black partners in 2023. Further when looking at the data by both race/ethnicity and gender, Black women and Latina women were each found in the partnership ranks of only about three out of ten offices.

Chart 1 explores how these percentages have changed since NALP last researched this topic based on the 2020 report data. Even though many of these percentages remain high — particularly in regard to the representation of Asian, Black, and Latina women — the share of offices with zero partners from each group and subgroup has declined since 2020, meaning that on an individual office level, diversity is improving.

Table 3 and Table 4 examine similar data for associates. As there is greater overall diversity at the associate level, the percentages of offices with no representation for certain subsets of associates are lower as compared to the partner data. Just over 1% of offices reported no women associates, less than 6% reported zero associates of color, and about 13% reported zero women associates of color.

Approximately 24% of offices reported zero Asian associates, 31% reported zero Black associates, and 32% reported zero Latinx associates.

Chart 2 shows how the percentages for associates have changed since 2020. As with the partner data, the share of offices with zero associates from each group and subgroup has declined across the board since 2020, demonstrating that diversity is also improving within the associate ranks on an individual office basis. However, in 2023 it remains a fact that more than four out of every ten offices do not have at least one Black woman associate or one Latina woman associate.

Despite recent improvements in the representation of women and people of color, many law offices lack representation of Black, Latina, and Asian lawyers. The effect of this underrepresentation is particularly evident within the partner ranks — where Asian, Black, and Latina women are each found in fewer than half all offices — numbers that remain soberingly low in 2023.

NALP's 2023 Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms is available at: www.nalp.org/reportondiversity.

Table 1: Representation of Women and People of Color Among U.S. Law Firm Partners in 2023

Source: 2023 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. Figures are based on 812 offices reporting at least one partner in the office.

Note: The "Total %" column represents the overall percentage of all partners who are women, people of color, or women of color. The "% of Offices with Zero Partners" column represents the percentage of all offices that did not have any women partners, partners of color, or women partners of color.

Table 2: Representation of Asian, Black, and Latinx Partners at U.S. Law Firms in 2023

Source: 2023 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. Figures are based on 812 offices reporting at least one partner in the office.

Note: The "Total %" column represents the overall percentage of all partners within a group or subgroup. The "% of Offices with Zero Partners" column represents the percentage of all offices that did not have any partners represented from a group or subgroup. Overall, 0.15% of all partners were Native American or Alaska Native and 0.06% were Native American or Alaska Native women, 0.08% of all partners were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander and 0.04% were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander women, and 1.44% of all partners were multiracial and 0.62% were multiracial women. Due the the small number of partners within these groups, data are not further broken out by firm size.

Table 3: Representation of Women and People of Color Among U.S. Law Firm Associates in 2023

Source: 2023 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. Figures are based on 807 offices reporting at least one associate in the office.

Note: The "Total %" column represents the overall percentage of all associates who are women, people of color, or women of color. The "% of Offices with Zero Associates" column represents the percentage of all offices that did not have any women associates, associates of color, or women associates of color.

Table 4: Representation of Asian, Black, and Latinx Associates at U.S. Law Firms in 2023

Source: 2023 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. Figures are based on 807 offices reporting at least one associate in the office.

Note: The "Total %" column represents the overall percentage of all associates within a group or subgroup. The "% of Offices with Zero Associates" column represents the percentage of all offices that did not have any associates represented from a group or subgroup. Overall, 0.17% of all associates were Native American or Alaska Native and 0.08% were Native American or Alaska Native women, 0.10% of all associates were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander and 0.05% were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander women, and 3.84% of all associates were multiracial and 2.22% were multiracial women. Due to the small number of associates within these groups, data are not further broken out by firm size.

Chart 1. Percentage of Law Offices With Zero Partners Represented from Each Demographic Group, 2020 vs. 2023

Sources: 2020 and 2023 NALP Directory of Legal Employers.
Note: These figures represent the percentage of all offices that did not have any partners represented from a group or subgroup in 2020 as compared to 2023.

Chart 2. Percentage of Law Offices With Zero Associates Represented from Each Demographic Group, 2020 vs. 2023

Sources: 2020 and 2023 NALP Directory of Legal Employers.
Note: These figures represent the percentage of all offices that did not have any associates represented from a group or subgroup in 2020 as compared to 2023.