Racial employment gap widened among new US lawyers, study finds
By Karen Sloan Oct 14 (Reuters) — Longstanding racial gaps in US entry-level lawyer employment increased for 2025 graduates, with white law graduates securing jobs at a higher rate than their Black, Hispanic and Asian classmates, new data show. More than 94% of 2025’s white law graduates found jobs within 10 months, compared to less than 91% of law graduates of color, according to figures released Wednesday by the National Association for Law Placement. Black law graduates had the lowest employment rate at 87%, down from nearly 90% in 2024, the NALP data showed. The employment rate for 2025 Hispanic law graduates was slightly over 91%, down from more than 92% the previous year. The employment rate for Asian law graduates held steady at about 92%. The relatively small cohort of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander law graduates posted the highest employment rate at more than 96%. “A law degree should open doors, but NALP's latest report shows that those doors are not equally open to everyone,” NALP Executive Director Nikia Gray said in a statement after releasing the data. The law graduates of 2025 hit the job market amid the Trump administration’s widespread campaign to eliminate di
By Karen Sloan Oct 14 (Reuters) — Longstanding racial gaps in US entry-level lawyer employment increased for 2025 graduates, with white law graduates securing jobs at a higher rate than their Black, Hispanic and Asian classmates, new data show. More than 94% of 2025’s white law graduates found jobs within 10 months, compared to less than 91% of law graduates of color, according to figures released Wednesday by the National Association for Law Placement. Black law graduates had the lowest employment rate at 87%, down from nearly 90% in 2024, the NALP data showed.
The employment rate for 2025 Hispanic law graduates was slightly over 91%, down from more than 92% the previous year. The employment rate for Asian law graduates held steady at about 92%. The relatively small cohort of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander law graduates posted the highest employment rate at more than 96%. “A law degree should open doors, but NALP's latest report shows that those doors are not equally open to everyone,” NALP Executive Director Nikia Gray said in a statement after releasing the data.
The law graduates of 2025 hit the job market amid the Trump administration’s widespread campaign to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education, government and the private sector. In March 2025, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission demanded detailed hiring data from 20 major firms, including applicant names and whether race or gender influenced their employment decisions. The US Federal Trade Commission earlier this year warned 42 major law firms that their hiring practices may violate federal antitrust law. Diversity Lab, a group that promoted diversity goals at law firms, shuttered in June after coming under FTC scrutiny.
Many major law firms have publicly withdrawn or altered their public references to diversity, equity and inclusion since Trump returned to the White House, a Reuters special report found. Nearly 50 US law firms that previously provided NALP with demographic data about their lawyers declined to do so this year, with NALP attributing the drop to Trump’s crackdown on law firm DEI efforts. Additionally, the US Department of Education is poised to revoke the American Bar Association’s status as the federally recognized accreditor of US law schools, partly because it says the ABA took too long to eliminate DEI standards for schools.
According to the new NALP data, white law graduates outpaced every racial group except for Middle Eastern or North African law graduates in securing jobs that require passing the bar — considered the gold standard for legal employment. First-generation college students had a lower employment rate than law graduates whose parents attended college or law school. Read more: Facing DEI pressures, some law firms shield data in latest diversity survey Law firm diversity group shutters amid Trump's DEI crackdown (Reporting by Karen Sloan)