ANALYSIS: Survey Finds Race Gap in Length of Lawyers’ First Jobs

Minority attorneys’ first legal work experience out of law-school lasts only about half as long as it does for their White peers, according to results from a recent Bloomberg Law survey.

Minority attorneys—defined here as American Indian/Alaska native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Middle Eastern/North African, multiracial, Native-Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and other non-White attorneys—participating in the Spring 2024 Path to Practice survey said they stayed in their initial legal jobs for an average of 3.98 years, compared to 7.8 years for White attorneys.

Although a race-based gap of almost four years is sizeable, a closer look at the survey data shows that ...