Blacks underrepresented in legal field: ABA report shows stark contrasts in the career tracks of lawyers.Though African Americans African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. have made major strides in the legal field, black attorneys remain largely underrepresented un·der·rep·re·sent·ed adj. Insufficiently or inadequately represented: the underrepresented minority groups, ignored by the government. in top-paying legal jobs, and the number of black students enrolling in law school has fallen to a 12-year low, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a report by the American Bar Association American Bar Association (ABA), voluntary organization of lawyers admitted to the bar of any state. Founded (1878) largely through the efforts of the Connecticut Bar Association, it is devoted to improving the administration of justice, seeking uniformity of law . The report, titled Miles to Go: Progress of Minorities in the Legal Profession, looks at the most recent data available from academic, government, and professional sources and paints a picture of stark contrasts in the career tracks of lawyers from different racial and ethnic groups. While African Americans make up 3.9% of all lawyers, the percentage of black Americans entering the legal profession today is lower than that of Hispanics and Asian Americans This page is a list of Asian Americans. Politics
the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time number of blacks enrolling in law school has dropped from 7.4% to 6.6%, the lowest level since 1993. Once blacks enter the legal field, they are disproportionately represented in top jobs. Only 4% of partners in private practices are minorities, while in corporate America, only 9.1% of general counsel are minorities. However, blacks have fared better than other minorities in securing partnerships. Of the minority partners in the nation's largest firms, blacks made up 35.9% compared with 29.5% for Hispanics and 31:3% for Asian Americans. Black lawyers were also more likely than other minorities to be employed by the federal government. More than half of general attorneys and a third of law clerks law clerk n. A person, typically an attorney, employed as an assistant to a judge or another attorney, especially in order to gain legal experience. who are minorities are black. The report cites several reasons for the failure of black lawyers to advance to the highest levels of private practice, including a lack of mentoring opportunities, the use of criteria such as law school ranking in firms' hiring decisions, and a high attrition rate Noun 1. attrition rate - the rate of shrinkage in size or number rate of attrition rate - a magnitude or frequency relative to a time unit; "they traveled at a rate of 55 miles per hour"; "the rate of change was faster than expected" . In fact, the report says more than half of minority lawyers leave their firms within the first three years of practice and two-thirds leave within the first four years, not long enough to get promoted to the highest ranks.
THE LAW OF TORTS
Number and Percentage of Law School Students
Black Latino Asian White
'99-'00 7.4% 5.7% 6.3% 79.8%
'00-'01 7.5% 5.8% 6.5% 79.4%
'01-'02 7.4% 5.8% 6.6% 79.4%
'02-'03 7.1% 5.7% 6.9% 79.6%
'03-'04 6.6% 5.7% 7.3% 79.7%
Note: Table made from bar graph.
Number and Percentage
of U.S. Judges (2000)
All Black Latino Asian White
58,355 5,155 2,650 1,000 49,085
8.8% 4.5% 1.7% 84.1%
Number and Percentage of U.S. Attorneys (2000)
All Black Latino Asian White
811,115 33,885 28,630 20,160 186,130
3.9% 3.3% 2.3% 90.0%
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