Black Attorneys Left Out Of BigLaw Gains

Though BigLaw firms became more diverse overall in 2016, African-American lawyers were not among those who benefited. The number of minorities working at BigLaw firms rose to 15.6 percent, up from 15 percent in 2015, and the percentage of minority partners increased 0.4 percent to 8.6 percent. Black attorneys made up 3 percent of all BigLaw lawyers and 1.9 percent of all partners, numbers unchanged year-over-year. Asian-Americans made up 6.9 percent of BigLaw lawyers, up from 6.7 percent, and 3.3 percent of partners, up from 3 percent. The number of Hispanic lawyers was up to 3.7 percent from 3.5 percent, and Hispanic partners increased to 2.6 percent.