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6 ¦ OCTOBER 26, 2020 NEWS

¦ From NEW DATA on PAGE 5 and its membership; ensure that
has not sought to exclude Black diverse voices are included in the
lives, but the profession has not group’s programming and publica-
prioritized Black outcomes, has tions; and create a single portal on
certainly not prioritized Black New figures on entry-level the NALP website where members
outcomes over white outcomes.” lawyers hiring from the can share resources and policies

Leipold said that the legal pro- National Association for on diversity and inclusion.
fession’s focus on prestige as an Law Placement reveal that When making that com-
indicator of merit and achieve- mitment, NALP noted that
ment—that is, the reputation of slightly more than 62% of representation of Black associates
firms, law schools, and the pedi- 2019’s Black law graduates at law firms has suffered years of
grees of individual lawyers—is the secured jobs that require a decline, and only recovered to
single biggest factor holding back J.D., compared with 80% of 2009 levels in 2019.
diversity efforts in legal employ-
white law graduates. NALP’s newly expanded data

ment and beyond. collection also includes, for the
“White-led institutions have first time, information on job
been the gatekeepers to the profes- outcomes for nonbinary law
sion, and those institutions have graduates. It found that employed
at every turn set up gates that prioritize success for nonbinary 2019 law graduates were four times more
white people,” said Leipold, noting the over-reliance likely to take a public-interest job than other gradu-
on standardized tests in the law school admissions ates, with nearly 31% taking such positions. (Just
process, the reliance on rankings throughout the pro- 8% of all employed law graduates went into public-
fession, and the disparities in how work is allocated, interest work.) Employed graduates who identify as
how lawyers are trained, and how they advance. gay, lesbian or bisexual were also twice as likely to go
Similarly, the legal profession has prioritized out- into public-interest work, at 16%.
comes for men over women, Leipold said. The new “I find it particularly discouraging this year to
data show that women in the Class of 2019 had a have to report employment findings that highlight
higher overall employment rate than men at nearly stark disparities by race and ethnicity, among other
91%. But their median salary of $70,000 was $5,000 demographic markers, but this should serve as a
less than the median $75,000 salary reported by men. wake-up call to everyone involved in legal education
NALP in June pledged to step up its efforts to and the legal profession,” Leipold said.
combat racism in the legal profession, in line with ¦

anti-racist commitments many law schools and Karen Sloan is the Legal Education Edi-
firms took following the killing of George Floyd by tor and Senior Writer at ALM. Contact her at
police and subsequent protests. Using the organiza- [email protected]. On Twitter: @KarenSloanNLJ
tion’s research to call out racism in the profession Sign up for Ahead of the Curve—her weekly
is one of eight specific actions the group vowed to email update on trends and innovation in legal
take. NALP also said it would develop a pipeline to education—here: https://www.law.com/briefings/
attract more people of color to the legal profession ahead-of-the-curve/

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