Black Law Firm Partners Made Paltry Gains in 2021

Judging from the headlines about the National Association for Law Placement’s diversity report, you’d think everything is going swimmingly in Big Law’s Diversityland. “Biglaw’s Most Recent Summer Associate Class Was The ‘Most Diverse Ever,’” gushed Above the Law. Other publications, including Reuters and Law360 blazed similar headlines, suggesting that the most recent summer associate class was a game changer.

The reason for all this buzz is that there was almost a 5% spike in the number of diverse summer associates last year. As NALP described it, “this summer associate class was the most diverse ever measured in every ...