Studies Show

Everything’s Coming Up Roses For Gay Lawyers But Not For Women and Minorities

The last time I transitioned this quickly from utter joy to the depths of disappointment, it was Prom Night 2008, my high school’s baseball coach was just about to announce who won Prom Queen, and my name was called — in order to let me know that my phone was found by the dessert buffet. Classic.

Yet, while my crushed dreams were easily buried in the buffet spread, I don’t think tiramisu will be much comfort after reading about the dearth of women in NYC law firms. Based on a recent study on diversity by the New York City Bar Association, The Careerist reports that while New York’s gay lawyers are on the up-and-up, increasing their representation from 1.6 percent of all attorneys in 2004 to an all-time high of 3.6 percent in 2011, women and minorities are not seeing anything close to gains.

The rate of female lawyers at the associate level has dropped (from 45.1 percent in 2010 to 44.5 percent in 2011) and both women and minorities are leaving firms far before partnership offers are being made, “despite efforts to retain diversity of senior associates among new partner promotes.” The group with the most stagnation is black lawyers: between 2009 and 2011, their numbers declined from 3.4 to 3.1 percent. And if that 3.6 percent of gay lawyers aforementioned seems rather paltry in comparison to women’s and minorities’ numbers, it is important to note (as The Careerist does) that openly LGBT lawyers make up only there is only 1.88 percent of lawyers nationwide. Oh, and in case you were worried — from our understanding, white, heterosexual, male lawyers are still doing fabulously.

[Via Business Insider]

TAGS: gender gap | law firms

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