Wilson Sonsini Is Nation’s Most Diverse BigLaw Firm, Survey Finds
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is ranked No. 1 for diversity in a new survey of large law firms.
At Wilson Sonsini based in Palo Alto, Calif., 18.5 percent of its partners and 25.4 percent of all of its lawyers are minorities, giving it a combined diversity score of 43.9 in the 2010 survey by the American Lawyer. The top five firms for minority lawyer employment are:
1) Wilson Sonsini, with a 43.9 diversity score.
2) White & Case, with a 40.9 diversity score.
3) Munger, Tolles & Olson, with a 39.5 diversity score.
4) Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, with a 37.8 diversity score.
5) Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith, with a 36.6 diversity score.
Overall, the percentage of minority lawyers employed by large law firms increased by .2 percent last year. The American Lawyer calls the jump small but “noteworthy” because it reverses a decrease in 2009.
Firms with the biggest gains in diversity were Hughes Hubbard & Reed; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; and Dewey & LeBoeuf.
