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Law firms' ongoing initiatives to address diversity challenges have driven another year of progress, with the representation of minority attorneys continuing to improve across the board, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Here's our data dive into minority representation at law firms in 2023.
Attorneys of color now represent 27.6% of nonpartners at law firms, a new high-water mark for the industry. But progress has lagged higher up. Here's a more detailed look at the representation of minority attorneys at the associate and partner levels.
Data from Law360 Pulse's law firm survey reveals that while firms are continuing to diversify their attorney ranks, progress has slowed. Just 15.6% of firms top the benchmarks for the 2024 Diversity Snapshot ranking — a lower percentage than last year. Here’s the latest look at how diversity in law firms' headcounts compares with what it could be based on the potential marketplace of new hires.
Law360’s law firm survey shows that firms' efforts to diversify their equity partner ranks are lagging. But some have embraced a broader talent pool at the equity partner level. Here are the ones that stood out.
DLA Piper LLP has hired a new artificial intelligence policy adviser, who will join the firm in Washington, D.C., as part of the firm's government affairs and public policy team, the firm announced Monday.
Have initiatives and programs to address work-life balance reached the equity partnership, or is it still the exception in the legal industry?
Ex-Trump White House aide Steve Bannon asked the D.C. Circuit on Monday for an en banc rehearing as he seeks to overturn his contempt of Congress conviction, saying a three-judge panel's determination that he "willfully" flouted a subpoena from the Jan. 6 House select committee ignored U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of vice presidential candidate J. D. Vance, has resigned as a litigator at Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, her now-former law firm told Law360 on Monday afternoon, presumably to trade her Washington, D.C.- and San Francisco-based litigation career for the campaign trail.
Donald Trump announced Monday that his running mate will be Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who over the last year has gone after the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland for what he deems are political prosecutions of the former president.
Many lawyers of color say they are included in their law firm's client pitches but are not assigned to the resulting work, pointing to some firms' "window dressing" approach to diversity and inclusion, according to a report reviewed by Law360 Pulse that will be released publicly on Tuesday.
U.S. law firms have been working to reduce the amount of office space allocated per attorney. Despite these efforts, a recent report by the real estate services company Savills Inc. found that the average square footage per attorney still remains higher than the occupancy ratios most firms aim for.
The Motion Picture Association on Monday named as its head of global litigation the former deputy director of Amazon's counterfeit crimes unit, who also spent eight years as a U.S. Assistant District Attorney in New York.
Merger talks between Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP and Locke Lord LLP are progressing, with the deal on track for a late summer partner vote and a hoped-for year-end closure, according to sources close to the deal who spoke to Law360 Pulse on the condition of anonymity.
Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has hired an of counsel for its complex litigation and class actions group, who joins the firm in Washington, D.C., with a range of commercial and constitutional law experience, the firm announced Monday.
A Florida federal judge on Monday tossed the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his allegedly illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, ruling that the appointment of a special prosecutor for the case is unconstitutional.
Law360 is pleased to announce the Rising Stars of 2024, our list of 158 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.
U.S. House Judiciary Committee Republicans asked a D.C. federal judge on Friday to order U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to hand over audiotapes of President Joe Biden's and his ghostwriter's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur in Biden's classified documents investigation, saying "the clock on the 118th Congress [is] ticking."
After a slower first quarter, lateral recruitment at law firms appeared to find more solid footing in the second quarter, with both associate and counsel hires showing signs of recovery from the previous quarter, according to recent data provided by legal data company Firm Prospects LLC.
Thompson Hine LLP brought on the federal prosecutor who handled the case against former Perkins Coie LLP partner Michael Sussmann, while Covington & Burling LLP named its first director of artificial intelligence and e-discovery solutions in some of the significant hires of the last few weeks in Washington.
As Washington, D.C., joins a national movement to require job postings to include pay ranges and to ban employers from asking for salary histories, recruiters predict an uneven effect in the district's legal market.
Drugmaker AbbVie has set its sights on the U.S. Supreme Court, asking justices to weigh in on a discovery battle over what it believes are privileged attorney-client communications relating to a "sham" Pennsylvania patent case.
Brad Karp, chairman of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, shared in a podcast published Thursday that the firm has followed a new two-track partnership compensation model as a means to combat retention issues plaguing similar firms.
Parsons Behle's work on a Salt Lake City renewable energy project and Schwabe Williamson's challenge to a federal mining permit lead this edition of Law360 Pulse's Spotlight On Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from June 22 to July 12.
The legal industry had another action-packed week as attorneys took on new roles and law firms reshaped practices following the holiday. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.
A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday threw out a bid from former Trump administration lawyer Jeffrey Clark to transfer his attorney discipline case to federal court, saying the embattled attorney attempted to remove the ethics charges too late.
Hidden in the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions from the last term are each justice’s talents for crafting choice turns of phrase, highlighting best practices for attorneys to jump-start their own writing, says Ross Guberman at BriefCatch.
As law firms embrace Web3 technologies by accepting cryptocurrency as payment for legal fees, investing in metaverse departments and more, lawyers should remember their ethical duties to warn clients of the benefits and risks of technology in a murky regulatory environment, says Heidi Frostestad Kuehl at Northern Illinois University College of Law.
New York's recently announced requirement that lawyers complete cybersecurity training as part of their continuing legal education is a reminder that securing client information is more complicated in an increasingly digital world, and that expectations around attorneys' technology competence are changing, says Jason Schwent at Clark Hill.
Opinion
Law Firms Stressing Work-Life Balance Are Missing The MarkLaw firms struggling to attract and retain lawyers are institutionalizing work-life balance through hybrid work models, but such balance is elusive in a client services and tech-dependent world, underscoring the need for firms to instead aim for attorney empowerment and true balance within — not outside — the workplace, says Joe Pack at Pack Law.
Summer associates are expected to establish a favorable reputation and develop genuine relationships in a few short weeks, but several time management, attitude and communication principles can help them make the most of their time and secure an offer for a full-time position, says Joseph Marciano, who was a 2022 summer associate at Reed Smith.
To avoid physical and emotional exhaustion, attorneys must respect their own and their colleagues' personal and professional boundaries, but law firms must also play a role in discouraging burnout culture — especially if they are struggling with attorney retention, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
Gibson Dunn's Debra Yang shares the bumps in her journey to becoming the first female Asian American U.S. attorney, a state judge and a senior partner in BigLaw, and how other women can face their self-doubts and blaze their own trails to success amid systemic obstacles.
Law firms that are considering creating an in-house alternative legal service provider should focus not on recapturing revenue otherwise lost to outside vendors, but instead consider how a captive ALSP will better fulfill the needs of their clients and partners, say Beatrice Seravello and Brad Blickstein at Baretz & Brunelle.
Ignore what you've been told about jargon — adding insider industry terms to your firm's marketing and business development content can persuade potential clients that you have the specialized knowledge they can trust, says Wayne Pollock at Law Firm Editorial Service.
To attract future lawyers from diverse backgrounds, firms must think beyond recruiting efforts, because law students are looking for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that invest in employee professional development and engage with students year-round, says Lauren Jackson at Howard University School of Law.
Series
Ask A Mentor: How Can Law Students Build Real-World Skills?Allison Coffin at Akin Gump discusses how summer associates going back to school can continue to develop real-world lawyering skills by leveraging the numerous law school resources that support professional development both inside and outside the classroom.
In uncertain and challenging times, law firm leaders can build and sustain culture by focusing attention on mission, values and leadership development, and applying a growth mindset across their firms, says Scott Westfahl at Harvard Law.
Robert Keeling at Sidley reflects on leading discovery in the litigation that followed the historic $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner merger and how the case highlighted the importance of having a strategic e-discovery plan in place.
Opinion
CLE Accreditation Should Be Tied To Learning OutcomesGiven the substantial time and money lawyers put toward mandatory continuing legal education, CLE regulators and providers should be held to accreditation standards that assess learning outcomes, similar to those imposed on law schools and continuing medical education providers, says Rima Sirota at Georgetown Law.
While many lawyers still believe that a manual, document-by-document review is the best approach to privilege logging, certain artificial intelligence tools can bolster the traditional review process and make this aspect of electronic document review more efficient, more accurate and less costly, say Laura Riff and Michelle Six at Kirkland.