Report: Women Of Color Make Up Just 2.27% Of Equity Partners
A brand-new study claims women of color make up just 2.27% of law firm equity partners.
The study of law firm diversity data comes from the Vault and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (headed by new CEO Jean Lee), which have been partnering on an annual diversity survey since 2004, collecting information from around 250 law firms.
The latest survey came out this morning, with statistics as of Dec. 31, 2014. Only 18.79% of equity partners are women, the data shows, although women make up 46.55% of 2L summer associates.
Female attorneys in law firms make up around one-third of the law firm population, and that figure's held steady for the last eight years. Women are gaining greater representation at the partnership and management levels, however, at attrition rates are declining.
"Despite the fact that the number of female minority associates exceeds the number of male associates (5,483 to 4,642), minority men continue to outnumber minority women at the partnership level by almost two to one," the report says.
More broadly, minority female lawyers are approaching parity with minority male lawyers: of the 101,360 attorneys surveyed, there were 7,499 minority women and 7,697 minority men.
Attorneys of color make up 15% of lawyers employed by law firms, a boost from 13.8% in '07. But attrition rates are higher among non-white attorneys. The report states of the 10,083 lawyers who left their firms in 2014, almost 21% (20.81%) were attorneys of color.
In first and second-year associates of color, it's nearly 30%. Those attrition figures are the highest they've been during the survey to date.
Due to attrition rates and slowed hiring of black lawyers, law firms employ fewer black lawyers than they did eight years ago. However, the number of black partners has increased since '07, with most of the gains having been made by women.
Asian-Americans make up a larger percentage of the law firm population (6.69%) than of the US population as a whole (5%). Still, they are less represented at partnership and management levels than other attorneys of color, compared to their numbers within the broader law firm population.
Hispanics make up 17% of the US population, but only 3% of law firm attorneys. While Hispanic lawyers remain the most underrepresented minority, "the advances for Hispanic lawyers may be the most consistent among all minority groups," with small but steady gains at all attorney levels, for both genders.
Around 90% of law firms surveyed were reporting LGBT demographic data, and the percentage of openly LGBT lawyers is trending upward. As with other minority groups, the representation is larger at associate levels than within partnership ranks or firm leadership.
Individuals with disabilities make up 0.26% of the law firm population, though around 13% of the US population as a whole. Under-reporting makes it difficult to capture reliable data, the survey reports, but the latest results show some increase in their numbers.
MCCA VP Aracely Muñoz Petrich called for more attention to attrition rates and more inclusivity in hiring and promotion.
MCCA board chair and former GAP executive VP Michelle Banks applauded diversity and inclusion progress at stand-out law firms, but pointed out that there's much work still to be done.
Most equity partners are white and male, but progress is being made: "one-third of all new equity partners in 2014 were either female or members of a minority racial/ethnic group."
