Oct 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. law school class of 2024 enjoyed record-high employment, but the robust job market did not erase longstanding racial hiring gaps, according to new data released on Wednesday by the National Association for Law Placement.
The 2024 findings come amid efforts this year by the Trump administration to curb diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at law firms and other employers, which NALP said could impact future hiring demographics.
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The overall employment rate for students who earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2024 was, 10 months after graduation, at 93.4%, the NALP found. That figure among white graduates was at 94.7%, the data showed. By contrast Latino law graduates, however, had an overall employment rate of 92.3%; Asian law graduates were at 92%; while Black law graduates were at 89.7%. The employment rate for Native Americans or Alaska Natives was the highest at 94.8%.
Those racial and ethnic disparities widened when looking at graduates in jobs that require bar passage — considered the gold standard of law jobs. Overall, 84.3% of 2024’s law grads were in such jobs after 10 months. The figure was 86.5% for white law grads, compared with 83.8% for Asian law grads; 83.4% for Latino law grads; 79.4% for Native American or Alaska Native law grads; and 74.3% for Black law grads.
The percentage point disparity between white and Black 2024 law grads’ bar passage-required employment grew from 11 to 12 between 2023 and 2024.
The numbers “provide a vital reference point for assessing how changes in employer policies and practices will affect future graduates — particularly graduates of color — and whether these existing employment disparities widen or narrow,” NALP Executive Director Nikia Gray wrote in Wednesday’s announcement.
Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs from the federal government, higher education and the private sector, including among law firms that hire hundreds of fresh law graduates annually.
Trump has issued executive orders against several major law firms, citing their allegedly discriminatory internal diversity policies and past work for his political opponents.The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March warned 20 major law firms that their employment policies which were meant to boost diversity, equity and inclusion may be illegal, and requested troves of hiring information.
Many law firms have since dialed back their public DEI efforts in response. A Reuters review this summer found that 46 of the 50 top-grossing U.S. firms have either removed or altered website references to diversity, equity and inclusion.
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2024 US law grads posted record-high employment, survey showsRacial, ethnicity gaps in new lawyer jobs persisted in 2023, amid robust job market
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