A Closer Look at Equity and Access in a Booming Job Market

By James Leipold

The job market for new law school graduates has been remarkably strong in recent years, the result of relatively low supply of law school graduates and a robust demand driven by a wildly competitive Big Law hiring tournament, as I outlined here in August, after the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) published its preliminary findings from the employment outcomes for the class of 2025.

NALP has now published its full analyses of the employment and salary outcomes for that graduating class, highlighting some of the inequities in this booming market — inequities that have always been endemic to the legal job market, but are particularly sobering this year. It is no surprise that not everyone benefits equally in a boom market but for a profession that claims to champion equity and access, it is important to expose the numbers to the light of day.

The high-level findings from the new report include the following: “While the Class of 2025 experienced one of the strongest legal employment markets on record, significant disparities in employment outcomes remain by race/ethnicity and first-generation college student status.”

In introducing the recent jobs report, NALP’s executive director, Nikia Gray, pointedly said, “a law degree should open doors, but NALP’s latest report shows that those doors are not equally open to everyone. Graduates of color remain significantly less likely than white graduates to secure employment — and the gap is wider for jobs as practicing attorneys. These persistent disparities demand continued attention from everyone in the legal profession to ensure that all graduates have a fair opportunity to enter and succeed in the legal profession.”

One of NALP’s greatest contributions has been its continued willingness and ability to hold a mirror up to the profession even when the image that has been reflected has not been flattering. Kudos to NALP for not flinching on that commitment in these uncertain times.

New and noteworthy in this year’s NALP employment report is the addition of separately reported employment outcomes for Middle Eastern and North African graduates, reflecting updates to federal race and ethnicity standards issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in 2024.

NALP’s annual report on law graduate jobs and salaries is always rich and nuanced, offering detailed analyses of all aspects of the entry-level legal employment market. To my mind, among the most important and striking findings from its Jobs & JDs: Employment and Salaries of New Law Graduates — Class of 2025, are the following:  

• Middle Eastern and North African graduates had the highest rate of private practice employment, and Asian graduates had the highest rate of employment in law firms with more than 500 lawyers.
• White graduates reported an employment rate of 94.4%, compared to 90.8% for graduates of color overall.
• Employment was lowest among Black or African American graduates (87.0%) and highest among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander graduates (96.3%).
• The gaps widen for those jobs classified as bar admission required/anticipated positions, with 87.1% of white graduates obtaining attorney jobs compared to only 81.6% for graduates of color overall.  
• Black graduates reported the lowest rate of employment in bar admission required/anticipated positions at 72.6%, while Middle Eastern and North African graduates reported the highest rate at 87.4%.
• Black, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander graduates were among the racial groups least likely to be employed in private practice.  

The NALP report also provides rich analyses of employment outcomes for first generation college students, graduates identifying as having a disability, LGBTQ+ graduates, and graduates who are military veterans. In addition to providing many national employment and salary benchmarks, and benchmarks based on the characteristics of graduates, the report also provides benchmarks based on law school characteristics, benchmarks based on employer and job characteristics, and geography as an employment factor. The full report can be ordered directly from NALP.