Law360 just released its comprehensive study of minorities in the law, collecting data from nearly 300 firms and capping it all off with a ranking of the Top 100 firms to work for as a minority attorney. Certainly a newsworthy study for Above the Law to cover, especially with a diverse staff of women and minorities who have worked in the law themselves.
And yet here we are with the only white heterosexual cis male on staff writing this thing. Make of that what you will.
Before looking at the top firms, consider the troubling attrition rate among minority lawyers:
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While more than 20 percent of U.S. law school enrollees have been minorities over the past decade, just 8 percent of all partners and 7 percent of equity partners at U.S. law firms are minorities. Asian-Americans are the best-represented minority group and comprise nearly 9 percent of all nonpartners. By contrast, less than 3 percent of U.S. attorneys are black, and black attorney growth has stalled since the global financial crisis.
Now obviously many of those minority attorneys haven’t had a chance to make it through the grinder to see partnership yet, but these numbers aren’t encouraging. Hit particularly hard, are black attorneys. Fewer than 1 percent of all attorneys are black partners — meaning about two thirds of black attorneys are shut out of the partnership game.
And it’s a self-reenforcing problem because without minorities positioned to act as role models, provide mentoring, or just to prove to a young lawyer that partnership is even possible, minority lawyers will see law firms as a dead end and continue to transition their careers into other sectors.
Meanwhile, white people continue their unbroken 200+ year streak of domination in this country. As Law360 notes:
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White attorneys are nearly as likely to be partners as nonpartners, while roughly three out of every four minority attorneys are nonpartners.
That’s astounding. In the pyramid scheme that is law firm advancement, one would expect nonpartners to outstrip partners across all demographics. And yet… white people have a virtual 1 to 1 ratio. Wow.
How does your law firm perform when it comes to diversity? Law360 has a helpful interactive tool to display the data for every firm. Before this one would have had to take extreme steps like “look at a firm directory” to understand how much white guys permeate the partnership.
So the industry-wide diversity numbers are pretty awful. But which firms buck the trend and offer at least a smidge of positivity for minority lawyers? Law360 has the complete 100 firm list, but we’ll tease you with the top 10.
1. Wilson Sonsini
2. Fragomen Del Rey
3. Sughrue Mion
4. Atkinson Andelson
5. Adelson Testan
6. Sterne Kessler
7. Fenwick & West
8. Ropes & Gray
9. Knobbe Martens
10. Kenyon & Kenyon
Congratulations! You’re trying!
2015 Law360 Minority Report [Law360]
The 100 Best Law Firms For Minority Attorneys [Law360]