With Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May) now over, we can celebrate some limited success. On one level, the latest statistics on law firm diversity paint a positive picture. According to a recent study by the National Association for Law Placement, more than 28% of associates at U.S. firms are now people of color, and almost half (49.4%) are women, up from 2.14% and 10.84%, respectively in 1991.

But our work is far from done. Dig deeper into the numbers, and it’s apparent how much further we have to travel. People of color and women currently comprise just 11.4% and 26.7% of law firm partners. The proportion of Black and Latinx partners in the United States is a failure—growing just 0.1% last year. Firms also face a challenge to retain minority talent—statistics from the American Bar Association show the attrition rate among lawyers from minority racial groups is up to three times higher than among white lawyers. My firm can do better with all of this too.

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