NALP Bulletin+
October 2022
Long-term trends in the racial/ethnic composition of judicial clerks indicate that despite modest improvements over time, graduates of color have historically been underrepresented in clerkships. The latest data from NALP's Class of 2021 Employment Report and Salary Survey show that these disparities continue to persist for new law graduates, while improvements at the federal level have stagnated. New analyses by level of parental education also reveal that first-generation college students are less likely to obtain judicial clerkships as compared to students with a parent who has graduated college.
Chart 1 depicts the overall racial/ethnic representation of the Class of 2021 as it compares to the percentage of graduates employed in all judicial clerkships, federal clerkships, state clerkships, and local clerkships. Across all judicial clerkship types, graduates of color were underrepresented; however, these disparities were greatest at the federal clerkship level, where just 20% of clerks were graduates of color despite comprising 31.5% of the Class of 2021 overall. The narrowest gap existed at the local clerkship level. Conversely, white graduates were overrepresented across all clerkship types, but especially at the federal level where white graduates obtained more than 80% of all federal clerkships, despite making up only 68.5% of the class.
Data for Native American or Alaska Native, and for Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander graduates, were not broken out separately by level of clerkship due to the relatively small number of graduates (9 each) employed in clerkships. Overall, Native American or Alaska Native graduates and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander graduates each obtained 0.3% of all judicial clerkships taken by the Class of 2021.
Chart 2 displays trends in the percentage of judicial clerks who are people of color since the Class of 2006. While there have been nearly 9-percentage-point and 13-point gains at the state and local clerkship levels, respectively, during this time, representation at the federal clerkship level has only improved by about 3 percentage points, and actually declined slightly from 2016 to 2021.
Chart 3 presents another aspect of these data by illustrating the percentage of graduates employed in clerkships by the type of clerkship and race/ethnicity. Overall, 10.7% of employed Class of 2021 graduates were judicial clerks. However, just 8.4% of employed graduates of color were judicial clerks, with percentages ranging from 7.6% of Latinx graduates to 9.7% of Black graduates. White graduates were employed in clerkships at a higher rate (12.3%) compared to the class overall and graduates of color.
While women were slightly overrepresented in clerkships overall for the Class of 2021, they were underrepresented by nearly 5 percentage points in federal clerkships. By level of parental education, first-generation college students (graduates who do not have at least one parent or guardian with a bachelor's degree or higher) were less likely to obtain judicial clerkships, and in particular, federal clerkships, where they were underrepresented by more than 10 percentage points. Continuing-generation JD students (graduates who have at least one parent or guardian with a JD degree) and continuing-generation college students (graduates who have at least one parent or guardian with a bachelor's degree or higher, but whose parents/guardians all lack a JD degree) were both overrepresented within clerkships by about 3 percentage points. Percentages were most disproportionate for continuing-generation JD students at the federal clerkship level, where they obtained nearly 21% of clerkships despite only making up about 14% of the class overall. (See Chart 4.)
Finally, Chart 5 shows the percentage of graduates employed in clerkships by gender and level of parental education. Most notably, the rate of employment in federal clerkships was 2-3 times higher for continuing-generation college and JD students as compared to first-generation college students.
Despite years of focused attention on these disparities, graduates of color continue to be underrepresented at all levels of judicial clerkships, especially at the federal level. New NALP data by level of parental education also demonstrate similar disparities for first-generation college students.
Additional data on judicial clerkship employment for the Class of 2021 will be included in Jobs & JDs: Employment and Salaries of New Graduates, Class of 2021 — available for purchase later this month in the NALP Bookstore.
Note: A small percentage of tribal and international court level clerkships are not shown separately, but are included in overall clerkship percentages. Graduates of color includes Asian, Black or African American, Latinx, Native American or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and multiracial graduates. Data for some racial groups are not shown separately due to the relatively small number of graduates employed in judicial clerkships.
Source: NALP Employment Report and Salary Survey, Class of 2021.
Note: Graduates of color includes Asian, Black or African American, Latinx, Native American or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and multiracial graduates.
Source: NALP Employment Report and Salary Survey, Classes of 2006-2021.
Note: A small percentage of tribal and international level court level clerkships are not shown separately, but are included in overall clerkship percentages. Graduates of color includes Asian, Black or African American, Latinx, Native American or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and multiracial graduates. Data for some racial groups are not shown separately due to the relatively small number of graduates employed in judicial clerkships.
Source: NALP Employment Report and Salary Survey, Class of 2021.
Note: A small percentage of tribal and international court level clerkships are not shown separately, but are included in overall clerkship percentages. Data for gender non-binary graduates are not shown separately due to the relatively small number of graduates employed in judicial clerkships. First- generation college students are defined as graduates who do not have at least one parent or guardian with a bachelor’s degree or higher degree. Continuing-generation college students are graduates who have at least one parent or guardian with a bachelor's degree or higher, but whose parents/guardians all lack a JD degree. Continuing-generation JD graduates have at least one parent or guardian with a JD degree.
Source: NALP Employment Report and Salary Survey, Class of 2021.
Note: A small percentage of tribal and international level court level clerkships are not shown separately, but are included in overall clerkship percentages. Data for gender non-binary graduates are not shown separately due to the relatively small number of graduates employed in judicial clerkships. First- generation college students are defined as graduates who do not have at least one parent or guardian with a bachelor’s degree or higher degree. Continuing-generation college students are graduates who have at least one parent or guardian with a bachelor's degree or higher, but whose parents/guardians all lack a JD degree. Continuing-generation JD graduates have at least one parent or guardian with a JD degree.
Source: NALP Employment Report and Salary Survey, Class of 2021.
