An impressive job market in 2023 did little to close long-standing racial and ethnic disparities in legal employment, according to fresh data from the National Association for Law Placement (NALP). While some progress was made, the gap between white and Latino law graduates grew compared to the previous year.
The most striking disparities appeared in roles that demand bar passage—considered the pinnacle of legal employment. Ten months after graduation, 84% of white graduates had secured such positions, compared to just 73% of Black and Native American or Alaska Native graduates. Latino graduates trailed at 80%, while Asian graduates reached 81%. Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander graduates reported the lowest bar-required employment rate, with just 67% landing those coveted roles.
When factoring in all employment types, white law graduates held an overall employment rate of 94%. This dropped slightly among minority groups, with Black graduates at 89%, Latino and Asian graduates at 91%, and Native American or Alaska Native graduates at 88%.
“These numbers underscore the ongoing structural challenges that graduates of color face,” said NALP Executive Director Nikia Gray. She emphasized the importance of efforts to dismantle systemic inequities, even as such initiatives face mounting resistance.
Despite the inequalities, the 2023 job market was notably strong. NALP reported that 92.6% of all new graduates were employed within 10 months—a record high since tracking began in 1974. Over 82% of them secured positions requiring bar admission, and unemployment stood at just 5.8%, the lowest rate since 2007.
Disparities extended to clerkship placements, where graduates of color—despite representing a third of the class—filled only 25% of all clerkships. The numbers were even starker for federal clerkships, where only 24% of those spots went to minority graduates.
While NALP has tracked employment outcomes for five decades, it only began publicly disclosing racial and ethnic data in 2020 to spotlight these persistent gaps. The findings highlight both the success and the shortcomings of the current legal landscape, as it navigates calls for greater inclusion amid robust hiring trends.
