NALP Bulletin, December 2009

Of the approximately 110,000 lawyers for whom disability information was reported in the 2009-2010 NALP Directory of Legal Employers (NDLE), just 255, or 0.23%, were identified as having a disability, as shown in the accompanying table. About 18% of offices chose to report “not collected” or “unknown” for these counts. Among the offices collecting the information, about 13% reported at least one lawyer with disabilities, but only a handful reported at least one summer associate with a disability. In fact, out of more than 9,000 summer associates, only nine were reported as having a disability.

Unlike the figures reported for openly GLBT lawyers, the numbers of lawyers who are reported as having a disability do not seem to vary in any systematic way either by firm size or by associate/partner status. The numbers reported are very low and percentages are about 0.25% overall.

Reporting of Lawyers with Disabilities — NALP Directory of Legal Employers 2009

Note: Figures for lawyers with disabilities are based on 1,243 offices/firms reporting counts, including zero, in all lawyer categories. Counts of individuals with disabilities, including zero, cover 109,893 lawyers and 9,256 summer associates. Because so few summer associates with disabilities were reported (9 total), they are not included in the table.