Washington-based managing partners say increasing diversity at their firms has been a top priority. Yet the percentage of minority lawyers at the city’s larger law offices isn’t rising. According to the Legal Times 150 survey, firms in the Washington area held their minority lawyer head count steady at 12.8% from 2008 to 2009.
The picture at the partnership level is essentially the same, with the numbers shifting only slightly — from 6.1% in 2008 to 6.6% in 2009. And with any and all hiring at law firms relatively flat these days, there seems little chance that the coming year’s numbers will improve much.
