The American Bar Association has released its sixth annual Profile of the Legal Profession with a new chapter focused on women in the law.
The 2024 ABA Profile of the Legal Profession reveals women are continuing to make a substantial mark in the legal profession. For the first time, a majority of law firm associates and more than 4 in 10 of the nation’s lawyers are women, according to the report.
The report is a compilation of statistics and trends about lawyers, judges and law students. This year’s report covers: lawyer demographics, lawyer wages, judges, legal education and women in the profession. The statistics are drawn from authoritative sources within the ABA and from courts, government agencies and nonprofit groups.
Among the statistics on women in the legal profession:
• 41% of all U.S. lawyers are women, and that number is growing slowly every year.
• 56.2% of law school students are women, outnumbering men in law school attendance, and the gap is growing every year.
• Since 2020, a majority of the 44,000 general lawyers in the executive branch of the federal government have been women.
• In 2024 or 2025, women probably will be a majority of full-time faculty members in ABA-accredited law schools.
Despite the gains for women, men still dominate the upper echelons of the legal profession through federal judgeships, state supreme courts, law firm partnerships and corporate counsel positions. For example, in 2023, just 28% of law firms partners were women.
Among other report findings:
• One out of every four lawyers in the U.S. are in two states: New York and California.
• The percentage of lawyers of color in the U.S. nearly doubled in the past decade. It is now 23%.
• 4.6% of all lawyers in U.S. law firms identify as LGBTQ. The percentage is higher for associates (6.8%) and even higher for summer associates (11.7%).
• The number of new law school graduates joining law firms after graduation is higher than ever: 53%. The number getting jobs in the business sector has been falling.
• Graduates of ABA-accredited law schools pass the bar exam at a much higher rate than those who attend non-ABA-approved law schools, or law schools outside the U.S. or those who studied in law offices.
• There were 1,457 sitting Article III federal judges as of Aug. 1, 2024, and they were overwhelmingly male (67%) and white (74%). But their diversity is changing, especially in recent years.
• The average annual lawyer salary shot up 19.2% from 2021 to 2023 — the biggest two-year leap this century. It is now $176,470.
The 2024 ABA Profile of the Legal Profession reveals women are continuing to make a substantial mark in the legal profession. For the first time, a majority of law firm associates and more than 4 in 10 of the nation’s lawyers are women, according to the report.
The report is a compilation of statistics and trends about lawyers, judges and law students. This year’s report covers: lawyer demographics, lawyer wages, judges, legal education and women in the profession. The statistics are drawn from authoritative sources within the ABA and from courts, government agencies and nonprofit groups.
Among the statistics on women in the legal profession:
• 41% of all U.S. lawyers are women, and that number is growing slowly every year.
• 56.2% of law school students are women, outnumbering men in law school attendance, and the gap is growing every year.
• Since 2020, a majority of the 44,000 general lawyers in the executive branch of the federal government have been women.
• In 2024 or 2025, women probably will be a majority of full-time faculty members in ABA-accredited law schools.
Despite the gains for women, men still dominate the upper echelons of the legal profession through federal judgeships, state supreme courts, law firm partnerships and corporate counsel positions. For example, in 2023, just 28% of law firms partners were women.
Among other report findings:
• One out of every four lawyers in the U.S. are in two states: New York and California.
• The percentage of lawyers of color in the U.S. nearly doubled in the past decade. It is now 23%.
• 4.6% of all lawyers in U.S. law firms identify as LGBTQ. The percentage is higher for associates (6.8%) and even higher for summer associates (11.7%).
• The number of new law school graduates joining law firms after graduation is higher than ever: 53%. The number getting jobs in the business sector has been falling.
• Graduates of ABA-accredited law schools pass the bar exam at a much higher rate than those who attend non-ABA-approved law schools, or law schools outside the U.S. or those who studied in law offices.
• There were 1,457 sitting Article III federal judges as of Aug. 1, 2024, and they were overwhelmingly male (67%) and white (74%). But their diversity is changing, especially in recent years.
• The average annual lawyer salary shot up 19.2% from 2021 to 2023 — the biggest two-year leap this century. It is now $176,470.
