Page 45 - FDCC Insights Spring 2022

John S. Worden
Big Law Equity Partnerships: The Diversity Dream Stalemate
By John S. Worden
The statistics say it all. Women currently make up 50% of U.S. law school students and 47% of firm associates, but only make up 19% of managing partners, 21% of equity partners (“EPs”) and 31% of all non-equity partners.1 These low percentages are an improvement from 2012, when only 15% of EPs and 25% of non-equity partners were women. Nonetheless, there remains a substantial imbalance in higher-level legal positions.
The numbers regarding minorities are similarly lacking. Lawyers of color made up 11.2% of all attorneys in 2011, and now comprise 14.6%.2 But those gains were not seen across all minority groups. African-American attorneys decreased slightly from 4.8% in 2011 to 4.7% this year—far lower than the more than 13%
of Americans who are African-American. The American Bar Association reports that people of color make up less than 15% of the nation’s lawyers. Law school student bodies are as diverse as they have ever been. Law firms are hiring female and diverse attorneys in larger percentages than ever. However, representation of Diverse and Women Equity Partners (“DWEPs”), which is higher than it has ever been, is still at a fraction of the percentages further down the seniority pyramid. Why?
Of the Am Law 200 firms, only six have female EP representation above one quarter of their lawyers. Only one Am Law 200 firm in the entire nation -- global immigration firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen, & Loewy, LLP -- can boast that more than a third of its EPs are female (41%). Part of the explanation can be attributed to the EP selection process itself. Law firms nationwide are increasingly trying to be more inclusive in their hiring so that their entering classes of attorneys more closely reflect society in general. However, few firms ever admit anyone as an EP unless that person already has a strong client base or shows a significant likelihood of building a large book of business. Firms take into account a number of factors when deciding whom to hire in or to promote
1 https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2021/07/29/there-are-more-women-lawyers-than- ever-and-theyre-not-pleased-with-legal-industry-norms/
2 https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/new-lawyer-demographics-show-modest- growth-minority-attorneys-2021-07-29/
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Insights SPRING2021