An important milestone has been reached in the legal world: women now make a majority of all associates at US law firms. So says the National Association of Law Placement, which has been tracking the data for 32 years.

As for the partner level? The report finds that women only make up 27.76% of all partners, even though that represents growth over previous years. People of color make up a smaller percentage of US law firms, though, again, still saw growth. 30.15% of associates are people of color, and they comprise 12.01% of partners.

The attrition of women between associate and partner levels is longstanding and notorious, and clearly remains an obstacle. "Most law firm partner metrics include credit for originating work…and often also for maintaining and growing an existing client relationship…Any period of leave is going to impact that," Sarah Chilton, a partner with UK firm CM Murray, told the Financial Times. She added that firms need to take those periods of leave into account, rather than judge "against a blanket set of objectives."

In 1991, when the NALP began tracking the data, women made up "38% of law firm associates," explained Nikia L. Gray, the group's Executive Director, in a press release. "It took another thirty-two years for women to achieve equal, and just slightly greater, representation among associates – 153 years in total. Real change is slow, hard, and imperceptible, but it does happen.”

One area of noteworthy decline is the diversity in summer associates, which dropped by 0.75% and was the first reversal in gains since 2017. The decline was mostly due to a drop in Black and multiracial summer associates, the report clarified.

Representation does not mean pay equity, however, as the Financial Times detailed. In 2022, female partners at Latham & Watkins earned 24 cents less an hour than their male counterparts, while at Allen & Overy the gender pay gap was 18.6 percent.

A DEI Backlash

Most large firms began strong Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) campaigns in 2020, following the police-killing of George Floyd that same year.

However, those DEI initiatives have been under intense backlash recently. As Bloomberg Law notes, "firms received letters from congressional leaders and state attorneys general threatening potential legal action over their DEI initiatives. Some firms, including Perkins Coie, faced lawsuits attacking their associate-recruiting diversity programs."

The ending of affirmative action has also troubled many who want to see greater diversity at US firms. Not only would it impact the diversity of matriculating students at the nation's law schools, Dennis Quinio, diversity chief at Allen & Overy, told Bloomberg Law, but "would make it even more difficult to bring diversity into law firms and the legal profession."

THE VERDICT:

It's true that the gains made by women and other marginalized groups have been slow and hard-fought, yet it's a major milestone moment for the industry. That being said, the backlash to change is sizeable, and the obstacles to continued momentum are real. Firms and recruiters should take it upon themselves to ensure their DEI measures are robust.