It's not quite Caltech. But it's arguably the MIT of Big Law.

For whatever reason, Asian Americans seem to be flocking to Fenwick & West. According to The American Lawyer 2019 Diversity Scorecard, Fenwick has the highest percentage of Asian American lawyers among Am Law 200 firms—23.4% of all lawyers, including 9.9% partners. That 23.4% makes Fenwick almost comparable to MIT's 25.7% Asian undergraduate population—though far less than Caltech's over 50% figure.

But before we explore Fenwick's particular track record on this front, let's get a quick snapshot at Am Law 200 firms with 15% or higher Asian Pacific American (APA) lawyer rates:

  • Fenwick—23.4%
  • Knobbe Martens—20.6%
  • Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati—18%
  • Fragomen—17%
  • Davis Polk & Wardwell and Shearman & Sterling—16.9%
  • Morrison & Foerster—16.7%
  • Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner—15.7%
  • Paul Hastings—15.5%
  • White & Case—15%

Those numbers are fairly encouraging, though Fenwick's statistic puts it ahead of the pack. Indeed, for those of us who remember being the only Asian (and female) lawyer in a conference room, it seems amazing that there's now a major firm where nearly one in four lawyers is Asian.