Law Students

Catalyst Releases Women of Color in U.S. Law Firms Report - Quantifying Gaps in Perception & Experience

By jessie

Catalyst released it's study of Women of Color in Law Firms today. The report represents a major undertaking, and I recommend reading it yourself, but I will attempt to summarize the key points.

First the problem:

...more than 75 percent of women of color associates leave their firms by their fifth year of practice, and nearly 86 percent leave before their seventh year. Those who leave often report experiencing institutional discrimination and unwanted and/or unfair critical attention, which combine to create an exclusionary and challenging workplace.5 Other research confirms that nearly two-thirds (64.4 percent) of women of color associates left their employers within 55 months compared to just over half (54.9 percent) of women overall.

Catalyst's argument is that this attrition is an inefficient waste of resources for firms, who spend significant sums recruiting and training young attorneys. This is not a new argument, but it's an effective one to a point.  I believe at some point the cost of achieving true gender and racial equity in firms will exceed the price of disproportionate attrition, though the attrition rates of women of color from large firms is so severe that's not an immediate concern. 

After the jump: the results of Catalyst's survey of associates and partner's in the country's 25 most profitable firms. 

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Full post as published by Ms. JD on July 21, 2009 (boomark / email).