Raising the Diversity Bar in the Legal Industry

With all the diversity efforts, why are the statistics unchanged?

“It’s hard for some of us to think that big,” explained Bhargavi Bhatt, a former debater with the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (SVUDL), in an ACC Docket report.

A first-generation college student, Bhatt credits SVUDL with inspiring her to believe that law school wasn’t just a dream, but a real possibility. Her interest was piqued after participating in a SVUDL mock trial, where students coached by practicing attorneys argue a real Supreme Court case in front of a panel of federal judges. But without her SVUDL mentor, a Silicon Valley lawyer, Bhatt said she didn’t think a legal career was an option.

Bhatt’s mentor offered guidance throughout her high school years, helping her choose activities like student government that set her on the right path for achieving her goal. “I now realize I can overcome many of the things I thought were obstacles,” Bhatt told ACC Docket. “I can be a lawyer.”

Since it was founded in 2014, SVUDL has aimed to increase diversity in the legal industry by investing in its earliest pipeline. As one of more than 20 Urban Debate Leagues nationwide, the non-profit organization offers students from under-resourced high schools with lower-than-average graduation rates the chance to compete in debate.

Participants – the majority of whom are minorities and first-generation college students like Bhatt – research complex policy topics, write briefs, and argue cases, just like professional lawyers. By doing so, many develop a passion for advocacy and a firm understanding of the power of their voice.

To date, 100 percent of SVUDL students have graduated high school and continued on to college. More than half say they want to pursue careers are lawyers.

By the numbers: Diversity in the legal profession

Urban Debate Leagues like SVUDL are a giant step forward in addressing one of the legal profession’s biggest challenges: despite an increased emphasis on diversity and inclusion over the past decade, law remains one of the least diverse professions in the nation.

On the surface, it seems the barriers are crumbling. Three women have now climbed to the legal profession’s most esteemed rank: Supreme Court Justice; during her 2015-2017 tenure, Loretta Lynch became the second African American to serve as Attorney General; and our most recent two-term president and first lady were attorneys of color.

But you don’t have to dig very deep to realize that the overall numbers tell a different story. Women make up more than a third of the legal profession, according to the American Bar Association’s (ABA) National Lawyer Population Survey, but only 20 percent of partners and 18 percent of equity partners. Even controlling for other factors like law school grades and time spent out of the workplace, men are two to five times more likely to make partner than women, according to a Washington Post report.

African-Americans make up 13.3 percent of the U.S. population but in 2017 only comprised 5 percent of practicing lawyers, the ABA reports. The discrepancy is even wider for Latinos, who comprise 17.8 percent of the U.S. population but only five percent of practicing lawyers. Two percent of attorneys are Asian American and about one percent are Native American, the ABA states.

Within the top 100 corporate law firms, slightly more than one percent of attorneys are minorities, Legal Outreach reports. And at more than 300 law firms surveyed for the 2018 Law360 Diversity Snapshot, minorities represented 9.2 percent of partners – a 0.3 percent increase over the previous year. 

The root cause of less diversity in law

The legal industry isn’t in denial about its diversity problem and is making concerted efforts to remedy the issue. The Law360 Diversity Snapshot reports that more than 85 percent of firms have established a diversity committee that includes senior partners, and more than 30 percent employ a dedicated diversity professional. That number jumps to 70 percent at the nation’s top law firms.

Many lawyers are also broadening their recruiting efforts, instituting unconscious bias training and implementing the Mansfield Rule, which requires 30 percent of candidates they consider for new positions to be from minority communities. Many firms are also creating mentoring networks to battle the voluntary attrition rate of minority and women attorneys that’s a whopping 61 percent and 42 percent higher than that of white men, respectively. The most oft-cited reason these lawyers leave: they believe they were given fewer opportunities for advancement.

But despite these efforts, progress is slow. In the seven years between 2009 and 2016, the percentage of women in law firms climbed by less than one percent, and the percentage of minority lawyers inched up by two percent.

So, lawyers are digging even deeper to address the root cause of the problem. After years of declining enrollment, the number of law school applications rose in 2018 – with a third of applicants on both sides of the aisle crediting President Trump with their decision to go to law school. Nearly half of these potential students identified themselves as minorities who want to join the ranks of lawyers fighting administration policies they say discriminate against their communities.

But even so, many trace the legal industry’s diversity problem back to law school. Only 30 percent of those who currently attend law school identify themselves as minorities, according to a Fast Company report, and over the past two decades that proportion hovered around 20 percent.

Harvard Law School reports that minorities comprised more than 40 percent of its class last fall, Fast Company states. But in general, the percentage of minority students in the elite law schools that offer the best path to a prestigious career remains far lower than other schools. The same holds true for women: While female law students outnumbered males for the first time in 2016, only six of the top 20 law schools had even half-female student bodies.

On average, minority students wind up in lower-ranked law schools and have lower bar exam passage rates and employment rates than non-minority students. The reason: minority and underprivileged students generally post lower average LSAT scores than white and wealthier test takers, even when other methods of measuring their abilities failed to show a difference, according to a report in The Nation.

Students with low LSAT scores have a tougher time earning merit scholarships, which can make the cost of law school daunting. Faced with the prospect of an average law school student loan debt of $122,000 and dismal job prospects down the road, many minority students are failing to see the value in a legal career.

The source of the LSAT score gap is hotly debated: some blame expensive preparation courses that teach LSAT-taking skills that underprivileged students can’t afford, and others point to a hidden racial bias in a test that calls for analyses that could be viewed differently by people with different backgrounds.

The impact of a lack of diversity on your bottom line

Only 21 percent of African American students and 23 percent of Latino students are ready for college, compared to 43 percent of white students, according to Legal Outreach, a non-profit organization that prepares urban youth from underserved communities in New York City for college. Without a strong high school foundation, law school entrance and success slide out of reach.

At the end of the day, the challenge of expanding the pool of qualified minority applicants for legal jobs must be addressed at every stage of the pipeline, from high school to the LSAT, from law school to the bar exam, and up the ladder within the legal profession.

But as challenging as the problem can be, it’s essential for the legal industry to continue to strive for racial and gender equality. Besides just being the right thing to do, a diverse legal profession benefits society as a whole. Attorneys feed into prominent positions, from judges to elected officials. The more diverse they are, the more viewpoints are represented.

A competitive advantage also awaits businesses and law firms that are able to effectively recruit, retain, and nurture diverse legal talent. Diverse teams are inherently smarter: working with people who are different from you challenges you to overcome stale ways of thinking and sharpen your performance. Above the Law reports that not only are diverse legal teams more than 1.5 times more likely to achieve a “perfect 10” performance score, but they ultimately receive 25 percent more of their corporate clients’ legal spending.

Many in-house counsels and general counsels are taking a firm stance on diversity, and firms that opt to remain less diverse could ultimately see a significant impact to their bottom line. Minority and female attorneys may also attract a broader base of clients who feel comfortable choosing attorneys who can relate to their life experiences.

There’s no denying that minority populations remain woefully underrepresented in the legal profession. True diversity isn’t just adding a few individuals to your office, but putting people of diverse culture, experience, and background at all levels. Supporting early-intervention programs like SVUDL represents a long-term investment for law firms and legal departments into creating a talented and diverse pipeline of attorneys for the future.

Carrington Legal Search is committed to presenting diverse slates of candidates to our clients. While we have experience in all industries, we have particular expertise in the Financial Services (banking, insurance, investment management, etc.) and Technology verticals. To make our nationwide network work for you, get in touch at 512-627-7467 or email carrie@carringtonlegal.com.