Diversity figures decreased in 2009 and 2010 but most law firms are working on getting diversity back. However, while diversity at most law firms is beginning to increase after the decline from the past two years, Philadelphia is still having trouble doing so.
A study on law firms shows that diversity in Philadelphia law firms is still continuing to decrease even in 2011. In 2010, the percent of minority attorneys at law firms was about 8.92 percent and for 2011, that percentage has decreased to about 8.23 percent. While this is a small decline, several years ago, the percentage of minority attorneys at law firms in Philadelphia was at a mere 6.5 percent.
In general, the presence of minorities at law firms in the United States is about 12.7 percent, which makes it obvious that Philadelphia is still behind when compared to other cities. Philadelphia is one of the only cities of the United States legal market with such a low percentage of minorities. The other city that also has a low minority rate is Boston but they are still ahead of Philadelphia at 9.19 percent.
Minorities account for 31.94 percent of Philadelphia interns. However, with such a high number of minority interns, one would probably question why the actual number of minority attorneys at these law firms in Philadelphia is so low. What the studies show is that while Philadelphia is allowing minority lawyers to start their internship in Philadelphia, they are not sticking around to actually end up as an attorney in a law firm.
While Philadelphia is not doing so well with increasing the percentage of minority attorneys in law firms around the area, they do seem to be doing better with gender diversity. In fact, about 32.61 percent of women attorneys work in law firms in Philadelphia in 2011. While that number has declined from 32.69 in 2010, it is still considerably high.
The number of female partners at law firms in Philadelphia is at about 19.2 percent. The national average for female partners at law firms in the United States is at 19.54. This proves that Philadelphia is still behind, even with female partners, but they are close to reaching the national average percentage. The percentage of minority women lawyers in the United States is at a national average of 6.23 percent. In Philadelphia, the number of minority women is 4.59 percent.
What some people find strange about the statistical information is that, the number of students who graduate from law school is usually at an equal percentage. This means about 50 percent of women would graduate along with about 50 percent of men. While the number of graduates is split almost equally amongst men and women, women still have less partner jobs at law firms compared to men. Law firms across the country are trying to hire more women as partners, but many are finding it difficult to interview qualified candidates.