These organizations are improving diversity within the legal ranks, one sector at a time.
Hispanics and Blacks make up about 15.1 and 12.9 percent of the U.S. population, respectively, and 3.3 and 3.9 percent of the lawyer population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Law School Admission Council. On the other hand, Whites represent about 69.1 percent of the general population and 89.2 percent of the lawyer population. These statistics, some say, are indicative of the need for law schools and legal employers to use more aggressive and inclusive recruitment strategies. The following are among the organizations doing their part to help improve diversity in the law field. See how:
The National Association for Law Placement Minorities and women are severely underrepresented in senior associate and partner-level positions at the nation’s leading law firms. In 2008, minorities made up nearly 6 percent of partners at the country’s major firms, while women accounted for about 19 percent, according to a recent NALP report.
In addition, some are concerned that women and minorities may be negatively impacted by the wave of recent law firm layoffs in the midst of a struggling economy.
“In the years ahead, we’ll be looking to see how the economy has impacted these two groups,” says James Leipold, executive director of NALP, one of the country’s leading providers of legal education and employment research.
As such, NALP has been committed to helping schools and employers craft better recruitment and retention policies, and enhance career advisement and professional development techniques. Leipold adds that the organization’s ongoing research studies — which include examinations of career trends and the changing demographic of the legal profession — represent NALP’s long-standing pledge to ensure that all newly minted law school graduates have an equal opportunity in landing a job.
“One of our core purposes has always been to ensure equal access to legal careers for all law school graduates in a non-biased and nonprejudiced way,” says Leipold, who notes that the organization will host its fourth annual legal profession diversity conference later this year in Chicago.
