NALP Research, February 2008, NALP Bulletin

Among law firm employers listed in the 2007-2008 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, 5.40% of partners were minorities and 18.07% of associates were minorities. Just 1.65% of partners were minority women, and just 10.07% of associates were minority women. (For more details see the press release "Minority Women Still Underrepresented in Law Firm Partnership Ranks," which was spotlighted in the November 1 edition of NALPnow!) But these national averages do not tell the whole story. The representation of minorities by specific race and ethnicity varies considerably by size of law firm and geography.

This article takes a closer look at representation of specific minority groups at the partnership and associate levels. The term minorities as used here includes lawyers identified as Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander, and multi-racial. The very few reported Native American and multi-racial lawyers are not broken out separately.

Overall, these groups are relatively equally represented at the partner level (Table 1). Differences are evident, however, depending on the size of the firm. For example, the presence of Black partners, and of Black female partners, increases with firm size, whereas Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander partners are most prevalent at smaller and at the largest firms. At the city level, the presence of Black partners is highest in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Detroit. The presence of Black female partners exceeds 1% in just five cities: Atlanta, Birmingham, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, and Washington, DC. Black partners account for 0.5% or fewer of partners in Las Vegas, Orange County, CA, Portland, OR, and Salt Lake City.

Most minority partners are Hispanic in Austin, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa/St. Petersburg. In each of these cities, the presence of female Hispanic partners is also above average. Conversely, in 13 of the 47 cities listed, fewer than 0.5% of partners are Hispanic. Asian/Pacific Islander partners — overall and women specifically — are most common in the Los Angeles and Orange County, CA areas, and in the San Francisco and San Jose areas.

Among associates, Asian/Pacific Islanders account for about half of all minority associates at the national level, and also at every firm size. As is the case with partners, cities vary a great deal on these measures (Table 2). For example, Black associates are most common by far in Atlanta and New Orleans, followed by Detroit, Indianapolis, and Tampa. In each of these cities except Tampa, Blacks account for about two-thirds of minority associates. The percentage of Black female associates was also highest in these cities. Every city reported at least some Black associates, though not every city reported Black female associates.

The pattern for Hispanic associates is similar to that at the partner level, with representation highest by far in Miami, followed by Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, and Austin. Every city reported at least some Hispanic female associates. The leading cities for Asian/Pacific Islander associates — both overall and for women specifically — are the San Francisco and San Jose areas, followed by the Los Angeles and Orange County areas and New York City. Every city except Birmingham reported at least some Asian/Pacific Islander associates.

Additional insight on women and minorities at law firms comes from looking at the extent to which women and minorities are represented at each office, rather than for a city or for the nation as a whole. Thus, the fact that just over 5% of partners as a whole are minorities does not mean that minorities make up 5% of partners at each of the more than 1,500 offices and firms represented in the Directory. In fact, as Table 3 shows, over one-third of the offices/firms reported no minority partners, and almost two-thirds reported no minority women partners. Both of these figures improve with firm size, and most offices — 89% — report at least one woman partner, but less than half — about 47% — have more than the average 18% of women partners.

Likewise, 19% of offices/firms have no minority associates, and 40% exceed the average figures of about 18%. (See Table 4.) About 29% of offices reported no minority women associates. In each case, small firms are more likely to have no minority associates than are larger firms. About 37% of offices reported that 50% or more of associates were women.

Table 1. Partner Demographics at Law Firms — 2007

Source: The 2007-2008 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. For law firms that repeated firmwide demographic information for each office listing, demographic information was retained for just one office to avoid double counting. Some city information includes one or more offices in adjacent suburbs. Orange County includes offices Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Newport Beach. The San Jose area includes offices in Cupertino, Menlo Park, Mountain View, View, Palo Alto and E. Palo Alto, Redwood Shores/Redwood City, San Jose, and Sunnyvale. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Livingston, Saddle Brook, Roseland, West Orange, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Short Hills, Westfield, Bridgewater, Somerset, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean/Tysons Corner, Reston, Vienna, and Alexandria. The few Native American and multi-racial lawyers reported are included in the overall minority percentages but are not reported separately.

Table 2. Associate Demographics at Law Firms — 2007

Source: The 2007-2008 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. For law firms that repeated firmwide demographic information for each office listing, demographic information was retained for just one office to avoid double counting. Some city information includes one or more offices in adjacent suburbs. Orange County includes offices Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Newport Beach. The San Jose area includes offices in Cupertino, Menlo Park, Mountain View, View, Palo Alto and E. Palo Alto, Redwood Shores/Redwood City, San Jose, and Sunnyvale. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Livingston, Saddle Brook, Roseland, West Orange, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Short Hills, Westfield, Bridgewater, Somerset, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean/Tysons Corner, Reston, Vienna, and Alexandria. The few Native American and multi-racial lawyers reported are included in the overall minority. percentages but are not reported separately.

Table 3. Representation of Women and Minorities Among Law Firm Partners — 2007
(percent of offices in each range of representation)