Summary: Diversity at law firms across the country increased in 2014, according to a new study from NALP.
Data from the National Association for Law Placement released this week shows that women associates increased their presence at law firms in 2014, according to The National Law Journal.
The report was pretty positive when it comes to diversity at law firms.
“It’s good to see numbers heading in the right direction again,” NALP executive director James Leipold said. “The changes are incremental, but across every category that we measure the national figures show that the representation of women and minorities at law firms increased from 2013 to 2014. It’s clear that law firms need to remain constantly vigilant in order to continue making progress, and really even to avoid backsliding, as we saw with the women associate numbers following the recession.”
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From 2009 to 2013, the percentage of female associates dropped to 44.79 from 45.66, but rebounded to 44.94 in 2014, according to the study. In 2014, the percentage of minority women associates increased to 11.51 from 11.29.
In 2013, minorities accounted for 20.93 of all associates and in 2014, the percentage hit 21.63.
In 2014, the percentage of women partners at law firms jumped to 21.05 from 20.22. The percentage of minority partners increased to 7.33 in 2014 from 7.10.
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“Individual law firms should not be allowed to hide behind the national figures,” Leipold said. “The story varies tremendously firm by firm and city by city, and while there are a small number of jurisdictions where overall levels of law firm lawyer diversity exceed the national figures, there are far more where diversity continues to lag considerably, and where little progress has been seen year to year.”
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Image credit: NALP
Source: National Law Journal