ABA report: Just 3% of firm partners are women of color, firm culture shifts needed (INFOGRAPHIC)

Listen to this article

While 14% of all associates are women of color, just 3% of partners are, according to a report from the American Bar Association.

It’s a statistic that hasn’t changed in the past 20 years, according to the ABA’s “Left Out and Left Behind: The Hurdles, Hassles, and Heartaches of Achieving Long-Term Legal Careers for Women of Color” report.

The 103 attorneys interviewed for the study detailed a variety of barriers impeding advancement and long-term success for women of color in the legal profession. The attorneys, all women of color who are at least 15 years into their legal careers, are themselves a rarity, said Paulette Brown, past president of the ABA, and Eileen Lets, past commissioner of the Commission on Women in the Profession.

“That 2020 statistic combined with anecdotal information collected in the study is cause for sufficient alarm as is the mere fact that there were not enough women of color to conduct a fulsome analysis,” they wrote in the report’s preface.

Nearly all participants said they experienced bias and stereotyping in the course of their careers. Seventy percent considered leaving their legal career because they felt undervalued and encountered so many barriers to advancement.

“Having to deal with assumptions of inferiority, intellectual or otherwise, and constantly having to prove myself no matter how senior or qualified or experienced I am is something my white male peers do not have to do. It is psychologically exhausting,” an attorney who is a Black women in her mid-40s said.

However, a love of the law, financial needs, family and community keep many lawyers who are women of color in the profession.

“I love what I do, and I worked very hard to get where I am,” an attorney who is a 55-year-old Latinx women said. “There is literally nothing they could have done short of killing me that would have resulted in my quitting the law.”

The legal profession is missing out on unlimited potential by blocking attorneys who are women of color from advancement. A 2019 study cited in the report found 76% of women of color sought advancement, and Black and Asian women are more likely to aspire for promotions than men.

To give women of color the opportunity to realize their goals, law firms need to make a culture shift to make the legal profession truly inclusive, the report said.

Firms should adopt better decision-making practices to reduce biases, improve access to mentors and sponsors, and address the specific challenges facing women of color.

“(W)hen identifying the root of the problem, our participants and others before them have consistently pointed to the culture of the legal profession as the biggest challenge to overcome,” the report said. “It is a culture that has continued to leave women of color out. It’s well past time to let them in.”

The infographic below illustrates the recommendations to make law firms more inclusive and testimonials from the attorneys who participated in the study. The full report is available here.

Click images below for full resolution