NALP Bulletin, December 2018
It should not be surprising that the demographic composition of graduates taking certain kinds of jobs or jobs in certain sectors diverges from the demographic makeup of employed graduates as a whole. But the divergence is especially stark in some instances. For example, compared to their representation among employed graduates as a whole, white males take legal services jobs at about half that rate. For the Class of 2017, the respective figures were 38% and 19%. Figures going back to 2002 show roughly the same proportions.
Conversely, white males are over-represented among graduates taking JAGC positions, by 14-15 percentage points from 2002 to 2012, but jumping to 35 percentage points for 2017. Nearly three-quarters of JAGC jobs taken by the class of 2017 were taken by white males.
These are among the findings gleaned from viewing employer or job types from this perspective, that is comparing the demographic composition for specific job or employment settings, rather than comparing employment settings for various demographic groups, e.g., for men compared with women, as is presented in the Jobs & JDs reports.
The table below shows the demographic composition of graduates taking selected kinds of jobs over the past 15 years. Other findings include:
For a similar analysis on for judicial clerkships, see the October 2017 NALP Bulletin article A Demographic Profile of Judicial Clerks — 2006 to 2016.
| Percent of Jobs in Each Sector or Job Type Obtained by: | ||||||||
| White Men | White Women | Black/African-American Men | Black/African-American Women | Asian Pacific Islander Men | Asian Pacific Islander Women | Hispanic Men | Hispanic Women | |
| Class of 2002 | ||||||||
| Firms of 1-10 | 46.7% | 37.9% | 1.3% | 2.9% | 2.1% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 2.7% |
| Firms of 251+ | 43.4 | 36.5 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 5.4 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Military JAGC | 55.0 | 26.9 | 1.8 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 3.8 | 1.2 |
| Local prosecutors/DA’s | 42.6 | 35.8 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 4.0 |
| Public defenders | 37.8 | 36.1 | 4.1 | 6.7 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 3.6 | 4.8 |
| Legal Services | 19.3 | 50.6 | 2.8 | 5.3 | 2.0 | 8.4 | 2.5 | 7.3 |
| All employed graduates | 44.0 | 37.3 | 2.3 | 4.1 | 2.6 | 3.6 | 2.3 | 2.6 |
| Class of 2007 | ||||||||
| Firms of 1-10 | 45.9% | 36.1% | 1.4% | 2.5% | 2.9% | 3.5% | 2.9% | 3.2% |
| Firms of 251+ | 40.2 | 32.5 | 2.7 | 4.9 | 5.8 | 6.8 | 2.6 | 2.9 |
| Military JAGC | 58.3 | 23.8 | 3.6 | 2.6 | 3.6 | 2.3 | 3.9 | 0.0 |
| Local prosecutors/DA’s | 41.7 | 38.8 | 2.4 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 4.4 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
| Public defenders | 39.5 | 35.1 | 3.3 | 6.8 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 4.7 |
| Legal Services | 18.7 | 48.2 | 1.6 | 7.9 | 3.6 | 9.3 | 1.7 | 7.1 |
| All employed graduates | 42.7 | 35.2 | 2.5 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 2.6 | 2.8 |
| Class of 2012 | ||||||||
| Firms of 1-10 | 45.3% | 35.2% | 1.3% | 2.3% | 2.8% | 3.8% | 3.4% | 3.7% |
| Firms of 251+ | 40.4 | 31.8 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 6.0 | 8.8 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| Military JAGC | 59.9 | 19.3 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 1.0 |
| Local prosecutors/DA’s | 43.1 | 37.6 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 3.7 |
| Public defenders | 38.5 | 36.9 | 3.0 | 5.9 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 4.7 |
| Legal Services | 24.2 | 41.3 | 1.9 | 7.2 | 3.2 | 5.8 | 3.8 | 9.3 |
| All employed graduates | 43.1 | 34.2 | 2.4 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
| Class of 2017 | ||||||||
| Firms of 1-10 | 40.0 | 33.6 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 6.4 |
| Firms of 251+ | 35.1 | 32.1 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 6.5 | 8.7 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| Military JAGC | 72.7 | 27.3 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 6.4 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Local prosecutors/DA’s | 33.9 | 37.0 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 5.2 | 7.0 |
| Public defenders | 32.7 | 35.7 | 3.3 | 7.4 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 5.8 |
| Legal Services | 19.2 | 35.9 | 2.6 | 9.2 | 2.8 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 13.6 |
| All employed graduates | 37.9 | 32.8 | 2.8 | 5.0 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 4.1 | 5.1 |
Note: Firms of 1-10 attorney, 251+ attorneys, and legal services organizations are employment settings, and include all types of jobs within those settings; military JAGC , local prosecutors, and public defenders are specific job types. Military JAGC positions were not tracked specifically in 2002 and 2007. The figures for 2002 and 2007 are based on US military jobs also reported as bar passage required/anticipated.
Percentages for a given employment setting or job type do not add to 100 because not all racial groups are shown. Figures based on graduates for whom the appropriate demographics were reported.
