These law firms topped rankings for minority, female and LGBTQ lawyers
Larger law firms are making slight gains in employment of minority and female lawyers, according to rankings released last week by the American Lawyer. (Image from Shutterstock)
Larger law firms are making slight gains in employment of minority and female lawyers, according to rankings released last week by the American Lawyer.
Firms made “subdued progress” on diversity in fiscal year 2023, according to the American Lawyer’s 2024 Diversity Scorecard.
Minority lawyers made up 22.4% of lawyers in 2023, up from 21.6% in 2022, Law.com reports. The findings are based on information from 208 firms, most of them in the American Lawyer’s top 200 based on revenue.
Minority lawyers made up 13.6% of all partners in 2023, compared to 13% in 2022.
Minority percentages also increased in leadership positions. Minority lawyers made up 14.3% of office managing partners in 2023, up from 10.4% in 2022. They made up 16.3% of executive committees in 2023, up from 14.8% in 2022, and 11.7% of practice group chairs in 2023, up from 10% in 2022.
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy topped the American Lawyer’s diversity ranking of the 208 firms. The ranking is based on the percentage of minority lawyers overall, minority partners and minorities in leadership roles.
The top 10 are:
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy
- White & Case
- Berry Appleman & Leiden
- Hanson Bridgett
- Morrison & Foerster
- Kasowitz Benson Torres
- Carlton Fields
- Willkie Farr & Gallagher
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner
Law.com also published stories on female and LGBTQ representation in firms.
Women made up 40.2% of attorneys in 2023, according to aggregated information from 247 firms published by Law.com. They made up 27.9% of all partners, 50.2% of all associates, and 42.1% of all “other” attorney categories.
The numbers show “significant leaks from the talent pipeline,” ABA researcher Roberta Liebenberg told Law.com.
“I’m happy to see there are more women associates, but I’m not seeing this correlation in terms of partnership,” said Liebenberg, a member of Fine, Kaplan and Black.
The top firms for female representation are:
- Berry Appleman & Leiden
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy
- Kubicki Draper
- Cole, Scott & Kissane
- Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan
- Littler Mendelson
- Kelley Kronenberg
- Wood Smith Henning & Berman
- Day Pitney
- Shipman & Goodwin
The top 10 firms for LGBTQ+ representation in a ranking of 223 firms are:
