National Jurist - February 2008 - (Page 12) THEFIRMREPORT Law firm diversity ven though law firms increasingly have placed strong value on a diverse working environment, there is still a long way to go, according to the National Association for Law Placement. NALP in its 2007-08 Directory of Legal Employers took a close look at the representation of specific minority groups at the partnership and associate levels. But these national averages don’t tell the whole The real challenge, many experts say, is retaining minority lawyers. fied as African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian and multi-racial. Overall, these groups are relatively equally represented at the partner level, according to NALP figures. Differences are evident, however, depending on the size of the firm For example, the presence of AfricanAmerican partners and of AfricanAmerican female partners increases with firm size, whereas Hispanic and Asian story. Among law firm employers listed in the directory, 5.4 percent of partners were minorities and 18.07 percent of associates were minorities. That’s up from 5.1 percent partners and 16.72 percent associates reported in the 2006-2007 directory. The representation of minorities by specific race and ethnicity varies considerably by size of law firm and geography. The term minorities includes lawyers identi- Vault’s top law firms for diversity To determine the top firms for diversity, Vault used a formula that weighed three categories (minorities, women and gays and lesbians) evenly for an overall diversity ranking. Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Firm Dickstein Shapiro LLP Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Carlton Fields McKee Nelson LLP Littler Mendelson, P.C. Jenner & Block LLP Morrison & Foerster LLP Pillsbury Winthrop LLP Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP Davis Polk & Wardwell Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP Fish & Richardson P.C. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP Quarles & Brady LLP Foley Hoag LLP Arnold & Porter LLP Sullivan & Cromwell LLP 12 THE NATIONAL JURIST February 2008 2007 Rank 2 4 3 NR 9 NR 6 1 NR 15 NR NR 17 NR 7 5 16 NR 12 NR 13 NR
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