Minority women make slight gain in partner promotions; will minority gender imbalance shift?
Minority women slightly outnumbered minority men in partner promotions for 2014, according to recently released statistics from a survey of the nation’s largest law firms. The finding suggests a possible shift in the future.
The statistics—for the year 2014—show that among the 1,849 lawyers promoted to partner, 120 were minority women and 118 were minority men, the Careerist reports. The percentage of minority women promoted to partner has grown, while the percentage of minority men promoted to partner is at its lowest point in eight years.
“If current trends continue,” the survey (PDF) says, “the gender imbalance reflected among attorneys of color in the partnership ranks may shift—less because minority women are advancing faster than because minority men seem to be falling behind.”
Overall, however, minority men still outnumber minority women at the partnership level by almost two to one, according to the survey by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and Vault. Minorities, both male and female, account for 8.22 percent of partners, up from 6.3 percent in 2007.
The survey shows “a slow pace” for diversification of law firms, according to a press release. Minority lawyers now represent 15 percent of lawyers at surveyed firms, compared to 13.8 percent in 2007.
The survey found that Asians and Hispanics are making gains at law firms, while African American numbers are dropping. Only 4.19 percent of associates were African Americans in 2014, down from 5.11 percent in 2007. And only 3.05 percent of law firm attorneys were African Americans in 2014, down from 3.62 percent in 2007.
Additional statistics are available from different sources in this ABA Journal article on minority women in BigLaw.
