Finally, I’ve completed a count of Black Associates at the country’s top law firms. This took months to compile and should be highly accurate though not perfect. Yes, I did look through the online presence of every single U.S.-based Associate at the top ~54 Vault ranked law firms 😮💨 If we’re not connected on LinkedIn, give me a follow if you can, it really helps w visibility 🙏🏽 Partner count coming soon! Link to the complete table: https://mosaicsearchpartnersllc-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/bryson_mosaicsearchpartners_com/EVZDvUKYab1JtQ4om7JquPwBR_nsltf6MuJNX-2_5BudOA?e=yTPMTK
I actually did something similar for my practice area (tax) and saw it was maybe like 100 out of 125 firms and literally half of those people were at Skadden, Baker Mckenzie, and somewhere else I cannot remember.
I always have to remind myself all of them are opps. It's just who is the least blatant with it.
It’s all a matter of degree but I don’t think any big law firm does a great job on this. I’d also specifically like to say although OMM has a really high percentage, I’ve heard a few abnormally negative stories from attorneys of color who work there or had worked there over the past 5 years. They also have some kind of Vault diversity award this year. I dug into it and vault diversity rankings are completely hollow
*Law Clerks were counted as Associates as well.
*You can check for accuracy by viewing each firm’s self-reported demographic numbers via NALPdirectory.com though not every firm self-reports, some make it difficult to track by submitting multiple reports or by using global headcount only and the totals are reported right after first-years started in summer of 2023.
Happy to answer any Q’s about my methods/sources in the comments!
Came here to say this; the NALP directory is the best resource.
Enthusiast
Thank you so much. This is an amazing analysis.
Do you have a sense of what year most Black associates leave firms by? For women of color, for instance, I believe 85% leave firms by their sixth year.
Also, do you have a breakdown by gender?
Enthusiast
That’s perfect, then. I will analyze the data further. Thank you for adding that information.
Is this across all offices? I’m at CC and we definitely only have like 10 black associates in NYC (including myself) and the total associates looks like it’s just for NYC? Thank you for this, anyway! I’m sure this data will be helpful for law students and laterals.
Curious what it would look like if NY biglaw offices only.. Is there a way to filter for that?
This is not accurate.
Where are your numbers?
***As much as I would love for these to be for a single office location, these are total nation-wide numbers.
Thought Cleary was supposed to be good for black attorneys... there numbers are low!
Their Partner numbers are a lot better comparatively. Based on the firms I have completed they’re #5 out of about #40. Once I finish counting all the partners I’ll post that data but likely gonna take me another few weeks. You could make the argument having more Black Partners is a better indicator than Associates.