The State Bar of Michigan released its annual demographic report for 2023, giving detailed information on gender, race and ethnicity, and occupational areas for all Michigan attorneys.
The hundreds of charts in the report also provides demographic information broken down by county and for State Bar of Michigan Sections.
In 2023, the State Bar of Michigan continued to have more than 46,000 members with a total of 42,073 active attorneys. Of those, a majority are Michigan residents (82.4%), while 17.6% are non-residents.
The majority of Michigan attorneys are male (62.2%), but women are increasingly narrowing that gap. In the last 10 years, 51.8% of members were male compared to 47.9% being female. Another 0.2% selected “other,” a gender category introduced in 2022, or “no answer.”
Generationally, Gen X and younger now represents 65.8% of Michigan attorneys with Gen X (1961-1980) claiming 39.5%, Millennials (1981-1996) 25.9%, and Generation Z (1997 and later) 0.4% of Michigan attorneys. Baby Boomers (1944-1960) comprise just 30.3% of all Michigan attorneys and Traditionalists (pre-1944) represent 3.9%.
Concerning race and ethnicity, overall, 73.2% of Michigan attorneys identified as European, while 6.6% were of African origin, and 3.4% were of Arab origin.
The remaining members were American Indian (0.5%), Asian-Pacific Islander (2.3%), Hispanic-Latino (2%), multi-racial (1.9%), and other ethnic origin (10.2%).
A 10-year snapshot of Michigan attorneys shows diversity within the profession is increasing in every non-European ethnic category: African (7.4%), Arab (7.7%), American Indian (0.6%), Asian-Pacific Islander (4%), Hispanic-Latino (3.2%), multi-racial (3.2%), and other ethnic origin (6.9%). European declined to 67%.
Members were also categorized by law school attended, with the highest numbers coming from Wayne State University Law School (19.8%) and Western Michigan University Thomas Cooley Law School close behind (18.2%).
Of the 34,675 attorneys living in Michigan, nearly half — 16,330 — were in private practice, 9.6% served as corporate counsel, and 9.5% were in government roles.
To read the full demographics report, visit michbar.org/demographics.
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