From February 2007 NALP Bulletin 

Among law firm employers listed in the 2006-2007 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, 5.01% of partners reported for 2006 were minorities, and 16.72% of associates were minorities. Also, because of expanded demographic data collection in the 2006-2007 Directory, we know that just 1.48% of partners were minority women and just 9.16% of associates were minority women. (For more details, see the press release "Partnership at Law Firms Elusive for Minority Women," which was enclosed with the December 2006 NALP Bulletin and can be found on www.nalp.org under Research & Directories > Press Releases.)

This article takes a closer look at minority representation, providing information on Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African-American, and Hispanic lawyers at the partnership and associate levels. The very few Native American and multi-racial lawyers are not reported out separately.

Overall, these groups are relatively equally represented at the partner level (Table 1 below). Differences are evident, however, depending on the size of firm. For example, the presence of Black partners, and of Black female partners, increases with firm size, whereas Asian/Pacific Islander partners are most prevalent at the smallest and largest firms. At the city level, the presence of Black partners is highest in Atlanta, Baltimore, Columbus, Detroit, New Orleans, and Washington, DC. The presence of Black female partners exceeds 1% in just four cities: Atlanta, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale/W. Palm Beach, and Washington, DC. There are few or no Black partners in Orange County, CA, Portland, OR, Raleigh/Durham, Salt Lake City, and San Diego.

Most minority partners are Hispanic in Austin, Miami, and Tampa/St. Petersburg. In each of these cities, the presence of female Hispanic partners is also well above average. Conversely, in 17 of the 44 cities listed, fewer than one half of one percent of partners are Hispanic. Asian/Pacific Islander partners — overall and women specifically — are most common in Los Angeles, Orange County, CA, San Francisco, and San Jose.

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 below). For example, Black associates are most common by far in Atlanta and New Orleans, followed by Nashville and Baltimore. In each of these cities, Blacks account for most minority associates. The percentage of Black female associates was also highest in Atlanta, New Orleans, and Nashville. Every city reported at least some Black associates.

The pattern for Hispanics is similar to that at the partner level, with representation highest by far in Miami, followed by Austin. However, in a handful of cities there were few or no Hispanic associates. Likewise, the leading cities for Asian/Pacific Islander associates — both overall and for women specifically — are Los Angeles, Orange County, CA, San Francisco, and San Jose, followed by New York. As is the case with Blacks, every city reported at least some Asian/Pacific Islander associates, although a few did not have any female 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 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 below shows, fully 39% of the offices/firms reported no minority partners, and two-thirds reported no minority women partners. Both of these figures improve with firm size, and most offices — 90% — report a least one woman partner, but less than half — about 45% — have more than the average 18% women partners.

Likewise, 21% of offices/firms have no minority associates, and just over one-third —37% — exceed the average figure of about 17%. (See Table 4 below.) About 31% of offices reported no minority women associates. In each case, smaller firms are more likely to have no minority associates than are larger firms. About one-third of offices reported that 50% or more of associates were women.

Table 1. Partner Demographics at Law Firms — 2006

Source: The 2006-2007 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 in Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Newport Beach. The San Jose area includes offices in Cupertino, Menlo Park, Mountain 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, Rochelle Park, Roseland, West Orange, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Short Hills, Westfield, Bridgewater, Somerset, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean, 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 — 2006

Source: The 2006-2007 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 in Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Newport Beach. The San Jose area includes offices in Cupertino, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, Redwood Shores/Redwood City, San Jose, and Sunnyvale. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Livingston, Rochelle Park, Roseland, West Orange, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Short Hills, Westfield, Bridgewater, Somerset, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean, 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 —
(percent of offices in each range of representation)

Source: The 2006-2007 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. For law firms that repeated firm-wide demographic information for each office listing, demographic information was retained for just one office to avoid double-counting. State figures exclude cities reported separately.

Table 4. Representation of Women and Minorities Among Law Firm Associates — 2006 (percent of offices in each range of representation)

Source: The 2006-2007 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. For law firms that repeated firm-wide demographic information for each office listing, demographic information was retained for just one office to avoid double-counting. State figures exclude cities reported separately.