The National Law Journal Reports:
The number of women and minority attorneys at major U.S. law firms is creeping up, but those groups remain significantly underrepresented in the partner ranks.
That finding comes from a new report by the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), which analyzed 2008 demographics from firms in 46 cities.
Minority women remain the most underrepresented group among law firm partners, according to the report. They currently make up 1.88% of partners at law firms. By contrast, the report found that minority men make up 4.21% of partners, and women overall account for 18.74% of partners.
The report highlights the difference in the number of minority women partners from their numbers in the associate and summer associate category.
Minority women made up 12.99% of 2008 summer associates and 10.74% of all associates, which is more than four times their representation among partners.
Read the entire article here.It notes that the cities with the highest number of WoC law form partners include Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Austin, Texas.
–Ann Bartow
This kind of statistic also enlightens us about some other underlying causative effects of a poorly performing educational system and systemic failings in our current culture. If kids drop out of school at accelerating rates, for whatever the reason, there are less college grads. And the bigger firms have a better shot at recruiting those that make it, for obvious reasons, leaving a smaller pool of possable hires for the rest of the firms. Of couse, these figures reflect many things. How many years after passing the Bar exam does the average atorney work in their firm before the chance for partner arises? The problems we face have many components, usually failling from the starting line. Although some causes may SEEM obvious, the cause of the causes is also in play. I have found that things are rarely as simple as they first appear.