Diversity's Bottom Line

AMLAWDaily
September 30, 2008 11:21 PM
Posted by Dimitra Kessenides
By Susan Hansen
Excerpted from the Fall 2008 issue of Minority Law Journal

Even in an era of $160,000 salaries for first-year associates--plus bonuses--not every young lawyer is feeling equally flush. Law school debt and the uncertainty of today's tumultuous markets have left many associates feeling squeezed--and a lot of them are minority lawyers.
This year our Minority Experience Study focused on the economic life of big-firm midlevels. Comparing responses from young attorneys of different racial groups, we found that African American associates, in particular, generally appeared to be in a less secure financial position. They, together with Hispanic lawyers, reported higher levels of debt and lower bonus compensation compared to their white and Asian American counterparts. More black attorneys said that their workloads were too light, and overall they reported lower billable hours, even though they took less of the vacation that they're entitled to than other groups.
As in previous years, the Minority Experience Study drew on data collected by our sibling publication The American Lawyer for its Midlevel Associates Survey. The survey, conducted in spring 2008, includes 7,259 third-, fourth-, and fifth-year associates at 180 large law firms who identified their racial background, including 5,390 whites, 539 Asian Americans, 241 Hispanics, and 212 African Americans. (The 877 survey respondents who did not specify their race were not included in the Minority Experience Study.)
The economic disparities among different groups of associates begin early. More than 90 percent of Hispanic and African American lawyers reported that they borrowed money for law school, while just over 80 percent of whites did. Only about three-quarters of Asian American attorneys took out law school loans. Black and Hispanic attorneys were also more likely to have taken out loans of more than $100,000.
To several diversity professionals, those numbers aren't surprising. Since minorities are more likely to have lower incomes, they note, fewer African American and Hispanic families can help their children foot the bill for law school. Furthermore, our survey found, lawyers of color were often more likely to have chosen to work at law firms because of that debt. More than half of African American and Hispanic lawyers said that law school loans were a major factor in their decision to join a firm, compared to just under 40 percent of white and Asian American midlevels.
One financial gap that shows up on our survey is in the area of compensation. Both African American and Hispanic respondents report an average base salary of about $178,000. White associates say they make $184,000, on average, and Asian American associates say they make $195,000. [To read the entire story, go to: http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2008/09/post-5.html ]