Is the Legal Profession Going Backwards on Diversity?

When it comes to law firm diversity, the standard narrative is that the pace of change is painfully slow. But according to a report from the National Association of Law Placement, even that narrative may be too rosy: in some respects, law firms are going backwards.

Released on Thursday, the NALP report found that, while women and minorities continue to make modest gains among the partnership ranks — often a focus of diversity discussions — the percentage of associates who are women has gone down over the last five years, and the number of African American associates has gone down every year since 2009. ...