Diversity & Inclusion For Recent Law School Grads Seems To Be Taking A Back Seat In Private Practice

The percentage of black law school graduates who are working in private practice is stunningly low.

The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) held its annual conference in Hollywood, Florida, last week. Every year, law school career services officers and law firm recruiters converge at NALP to talk about the latest news in the legal employment market and learn about all of the ways they can adapt to new developments. The annual conference seems to center around a theme each year, and while my colleague Elie Mystal classified last year’s event as being all about feelings, this time around, diversity and inclusion took the main stage.

While many informative panels on the topic were held, they all took on a greater meaning during NALP Executive Director James Leipold’s session on how the legal job market continues to change 10 years after the recession. Buried within all of the detailed information about how the class of 2016 fared when it came to employment were the demographics on how women and minorities performed in the job market.

First, some quick facts about how the job market is looking for recent law school graduates. For the third year in a row, the actual number of jobs obtained went down in every sector except the largest law firms — and even then, Biglaw recruiting has tapered off. That being said, things are looking “great,” simply by virtue of the fact that employment is now being measured through the lens of much smaller law school graduating classes. (Of course, there is currently a higher percentage of graduates still seeking work 10 months after graduation than the percentage measured before the recession occurred, but never you mind that less-than fun fact.)

Let’s talk about diversity and inclusion in private practice jobs for the class of 2016 — or the lack thereof in some cases. Check out these slides from Leipold’s presentation:

(Slide via NALP)

(Slide via NALP)

(Slide via NALP)

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Men continue to have an advantage over women in private practice and in business, while minorities seem to have better odds of being employed in every sector of the legal field except private practice and clerkships. Perhaps the most stunning figure of all is the incredibly low percentage of black law school graduates who are working in private practice for their first jobs. Whatever law firms think they’re doing to improve diversity and inclusion, it’s clearly not enough. It’s disheartening to see these kinds of numbers, but we remain hopeful for the future because with millennial optimism taking over law schools across the country, change is on the horizon.

NALP will be partnering with the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals to host a Diversity & Inclusion Summit this June in Washington, D.C., and law firm recruiting professionals should seriously consider making it a priority to attend.


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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