The 75-strong group, led by author and Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge Fernande Duffly, believes adding information on non-equity partners would give a better picture on diversity at member firms of the NALP. The letter notes an equal number of men and women graduate law school, but women comprise only 16% to 17% of equity partners at major law firms. Minorities account for only 5.4% of law firm partners, according to the letter.

“While many law firms have taken steps to address this problem, progress has been slow and difficult to measure. The continuing disparities at the equity partnership level have a significant and far-reaching impact on the legal profession, including by reducing the number of women and minority attorneys who are positioned to apply for judgeships or assume leadership roles in the community,” the letter states.

The NALP, formerly known as the National Association for Law Placement, said earlier this year it would not be able to provide such information because law firms were “unable or unwiling to provide the information requested in the new equity/non-equity partner categories.”

According to the organization, many firms said they would not provide such information because of privacy and confidentiality issues.

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Here’s a sampling of prominent firms that have announced a smaller partnership class this year compared to last year: Cleary Gottlieb, Latham & Watkins, Ropes & Gray, Proskauer Rose, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, Skadden Arps, Davis Polk, Paul Hastings, Gibson Dunn, Mayer Brown, Kirkland & Ellis. The list of firms bucking the trend is much smaller and those that have promoted larger classes have promoted only marginally more partners while some of the firms with smaller classes have cut promotions by as much as half. Fried Frank for example promoted seven new partners, up from five the previous year, but did so in a year where its total number of attorneys shrank by 26%.

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