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Jun 20, 2022 · Native Americans are the smallest racial or ethnic group among U.S. lawyers. One-half of 1% of all lawyers (0.5%) are Native American – nearly unchanged from 0.6% a decade earlier. The U.S. population is 1.3% Native American.
According to the American Bar Association’s 2020 Profile of the Legal Profession, the percentage of lawyers who are men and women of color – Hispanic, African American, Asian, Native American and mixed race – grew slowly over the past decade.
Aug 1, 2022 · For the 28th consecutive year, the percentage of law firm partners who are lawyers of color rose in 2021. Five percent of law firm partners identify as LGBTQ. Lawyers are, on average, older than the general working population, and are more likely to work past the traditional retirement age of 65.
- Research Questions
- Literature Review
- The Importance of A Framework: Assessing Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
- Historic Diversity Trends in The American Legal Profession
- Addressing The Diversity Problem: Affirmative Action and Beyond
- Law Career Tracks: Private Practice and Public Interest
- Data and Methods
- Results
- What Is Needed to Achieve Gender and Racial Equity?
- References
Based on the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Framework, we compare the representation gap of women and POC in private practice with that on the federal bench. We offer a measurement of the underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in the legal profession and point out paths for future research: 1. How diverse are the federal bench and pri...
To address our research questions with adequate appreciation of the obstacles facing underrepresented groups pursuing a legal career, we start by examining the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Framework (hereafter, DIE framework). This conceptual framework is then applied to past diversification trends, historic pioneers, and the early days of the ...
The study of efforts to diversify the legal profession will necessitate a systematic method of analysis. Otherwise, anecdotes, platitudes, and rare examples may skew our perception of progress. While diversityitself is a commonly used term, its use often refers to multiple distinct concepts. To better address and assess efforts to add descriptive r...
Like much of American society, the legal profession, with few exceptions, was strictly segregated until the 1960s; this initial disparity has never been fully corrected (Moore 2007). During the early nineteenth century, the practice of law was a trade similar to most others. Rather than attending law schools, lawyers were taught through apprentices...
Starting with Sweatt v. Painter 339 U.S. 629 (1950), which was cited in the influential Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the courts began to side with underrepresented minority groups who sought admissions to previously segregated schools (Kidder 2003). In the Sweatt case, Texas’s system of supposedly “separate but equal” law school...
While access is a necessary step toward a representative legal profession, granting such access to women and POC has been insufficient to achieve equity. Within the career tracks, essential differences between private practice or public interest careers have gone unexamined. As law students work toward graduation, they generally must choose a caree...
We use data from the US Census Bureau, American Bar Association, National Association for Law Placement, and the Federal Judicial Center to examine representation in entry-level positions all the way to the highest level in private practice, to compare it with the federal judiciary. We merge data as percentages to account for the differences in the...
A reconceptualization that differentiates between diversification and inclusiveness makes it possible to target specific barriers to equity in the legal profession and reveals undertheorized patterns of the process. Table 2 shows a snapshot of the representational gap of racial minorities and women in the legal profession in 2019. First, notice tha...
After applying the DIE framework to measure the gaps in racial and gender representation in the legal profession, it becomes obvious that optimism about gains in descriptive representation may be naïve. While diversity itself is at or near all-time highs in almost every level of the profession, the gains have been primarily at entry-level positions...
Baćak, Valerio, Sarah E. Lageson, and Kathleen Powell. 2020. “‘Fighting the Good Fight’: Why Do Public Defenders Remain on the Job?” Criminal Justice Policy Review 31:939–61. (↵ Return) Barnes, Janette. 1970. “Women and Entrance to the Legal Profession.” Journal of Legal Education 23:276–308. (↵ Return) Bowman, Cynthia G. 2009. “Women in the Legal ...
Aug 10, 2021 · Aug 10 - A recent American Bar Association study found that the legal profession in America has remained overwhelmingly white and male over the last decade and that racial diversity among...
Apr 20, 2021 · According to a 2020 report by the American Bar Association, mid-career white lawyers are more likely to be found in law firms (40 percent) than mid-career lawyers who are Latino (34 percent), Asian American (30 percent), Black (24 percent), or Native American (20 percent).
Nov 4, 2022 · The racial and ethnic disparity among lawyers also is stark, at a time when there are four women, two African-Americans and a Latina among the nine justices.
