The American Lawyer’s 2019 Diversity Scorecard has been released, and while it’s not all bad, it also isn’t pretty.  The 2019 Scorecard recorded the average number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) minority (including Asian-American, African-American, Latino, Hispanic, Native American and “self-described multiracial”) attorneys at Am Law 200 and National Law Journal 250 law firms for the 2018 calendar year.  Here are four key takeaways you need to know about this year’s analysis:

1. How it Works. The Scorecard is very specifically calculated to give a full picture of the demographic makeup of the top firms in the U.S. A firm’s “diversity score” is the minority percentage of all U.S. attorneys at the firms surveyed plus the minority percentage of all U.S. partners at those firms.
2. Not Everyone is Talking. 34 firms from the selected lists opted not to provide The American Lawyer with their statistics, which could absolutely skew these results – for better or worse.
3. Who Came Out on Top? Fragomen has been ranked as the top firm in terms of diversity representation among attorneys.
4. African-American Attorneys are Falling Further Behind. Even at the number one firm, Fragomen, African-American attorneys only account for 1.3% of the firm’s population. Fragomen also reported no African-American partners, while, in an interesting twist, two firms outside of the top five in terms total diversity were found to have the highest percentage of black partners.

Addressing diversity in the legal industry is extremely important – so important that over 200 general counsel recently signed on to a letter challenging law firms to develop more diverse teams. For more detailed takeaways from the 2019 Diversity Scorecard and important courses addressing diversity in the legal profession, read the full article.