Current:Home > InvestWomen make up majority of law firm associates for the first time: "Real change is slow." -FinTechWorld
Women make up majority of law firm associates for the first time: "Real change is slow."
View
Date:2025-04-12 18:59:39
Women now make up the majority of associates in U.S. law firms for the first time, according to data released Tuesday by the National Association for Law Placement, which first began tracking law firm data in 1991.
In 2023, women comprised 50.31% of law associates in the U.S. They also reported greater strides at the partnership level, but still make up only 27.76% of all partners — a 1.1% increase from the previous year.
"NALP began tracking law firm diversity data in 1991, 121 years after the first woman graduated law school in the United States. At that time, women accounted for only a little over 38% of law firm associates," said NALP's Executive Director, Nikia L. Gray.
"It took another thirty-two years for women to achieve equal, and just slightly greater, representation among associates – 153 years in total. Real change is slow, hard, and imperceptible, but it does happen."
Additionally, 2023 also saw the largest yearly increase in the percentage of associates of color, a demographic that grew 1.8 percentage points from the previous year, rising to 30.15%.
For the first time since NALP started its firm data collection, Black and Latina women each accounted for at least 1% of all law firm partners, but women of color still account for less than 5% of total partners.
"Although reporting of gender non-binary lawyers remains limited since NALP first began collecting data in 2020, the figure has grown each year," read the report.
Law firms in 2023 reported 79 non-binary lawyers and 27 non-binary summer associates, compared to just 42 non-binary lawyers and 17 non-binary summer associates in the previous year.
Gray said that, while this progress is a step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done.
"This year's story is one of fragile progress when overlayed with the implications of the wider political, legal, and social changes that are occurring," she said.
"It will take courage, resolve, and creativity for us to find our way through the storm we are facing and continue making progress, but I am confident in the NALP community and our ability to do so," she added.
- In:
- Women
- Lawmakers
C Mandler is a social media producer and trending topics writer for CBS News, focusing on American politics and LGBTQ+ issues.
veryGood! (3)
Related
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- Ashlee Simpson Shares the Secret to Her and Evan Ross' Decade-Long Romance
- A loved one's dementia will break your heart. Don't let it wreck your finances
- Corporate Giants Commit to Emissions Targets Based on Science
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Does Connecticut’s Green Bank Hold the Secret to the Future of Clean Energy?
- Sarah, the Duchess of York, undergoes surgery following breast cancer diagnosis
- Corporate Giants Commit to Emissions Targets Based on Science
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Pregnant Ohio mom fatally shot by 2-year-old son who found gun on nightstand, police say
Ranking
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high
- Here's What's Coming to Netflix in June 2023: The Witcher Season 3, Black Mirror and More
- iCarly's Jerry Trainor Shares His Thoughts on Jennette McCurdy's Heartbreaking Memoir
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- Madonna postpones tour while recovering from 'serious bacterial infection'
- The drug fueling another wave of overdose deaths
- When work gets too frustrating, some employees turn to rage applying
Recommendation
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
Wayfair's Memorial Day Sale 2023 Has 82% Off Dyson, Blackstone & More Incredible Deals for Under $100
Lawyers fined for filing bogus case law created by ChatGPT
Taylor Swift Seemingly Shares What Led to Joe Alwyn Breakup in New Song “You’re Losing Me”
The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
His baby gene editing shocked ethicists. Now he's in the lab again
Two years after Surfside condo collapse, oldest victim's grandson writes about an Uncollapsable Soul
Senate 2020: In Alabama, Two Very Different Views on Climate Change Give Voters a Clear Choice