Despite some progress, Asian American attorneys find barriers to the top

A PORTRAIT OF ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE LAW 2.0

Asian American attorneys are finding greater satisfaction with helping their ethnic communities but they are encountering  difficulties in reaching the top tiers of the legal profession. 

According to a new study about Asian Americans in the legal profession, there are signs of progress in federal courts, in-house legal departments and law school enrollment for the altruistic attorneys.

“In terms of representation, I think we’ve seen some interesting progress,” said California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu during the Monday announcement of A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law 2.0, a collaborative study by the American Bar Foundation, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and several law schools

“But across the broader range of the profession, we still see a lot of disparities and gaps — law clerks, law firm partners, state judges and top prosecutors,” Liu continued.

The study finds a curious discrepancy: While climbing the corporate ladder has been difficult for a number of reasons, the percentage of active federal judges who are Asian American has risen from 3.4% in 2016 to 6% today.

In the private sector, the number of Asian American general counsel at Fortune 1000 companies went to 45 in 2020 from 19 in 2009.

After hitting a 20-year low in 2017, the number of Asian American and Pacific Islander enrolling in law schools has been ticking up.

But progress has been slow or non-existent in other areas. Asian Americans comprise 13% of associates at major law firms, but just 4% of equity partners — the lowest ratio among minority groups, the report notes.

Outside of the increases on the judicial bench, representation in the public sector has been just as bad. Only one of the current 93 Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys is Asian American, and their representation among law clerks has been stagnant for the past 25 years.

One hopeful trend for the AANHPI community is that Asian American attorneys are increasingly involved in improving the social and political status of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

"We find it notable that although relatively few Asian Americans are motivated to pursue law in order to enter government or politics or to become influential, 46% of 2022 Survey respondents said a key reason they went to law school was to change or improve society.," cites the study.

The study's findings "suggest that recent events have invigorated Asian American attorneys’ commitment to racial justice, their sense of racial or ethnic identity, and their determination to protect our communities," according tot he report. 

The study attributes that current trend to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic, the Trump-inspired immigration fiasco, and the growing alliance with other communities of color and the impact of social and political inequities that became more apparent  after the 2020 killing of George Floyd. 

Five years ago, a similar study titled "A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law" found that “Asian Americans have penetrated virtually every sector of the legal profession, but they were significantly underrepresented in the leadership ranks of law firms, government, and academia.”  

Since then, the Asian American community has been significantly affected by major events, including a disturbing rise in anti-Asian hate and violence. One in six Asian Americans reported experiencing a hate incident in 2021, up from one in eight in 2020.2 The past five years have also seen a growing movement to address anti-Black racism as well as myriad challenges posed by a global pandemic.

In this new context, "A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law 2.0: Identity and Action in Challenging Times," updated the environment of the legal profession.  This study again canvasses Asian American attorneys for insights into law school enrollment, career advancement, and political participation.

Asian American attorneys indicated greater engagement with social and political issues, along with a desire to change and improve society.

• In contrast to five years ago, 2022 Survey respondents seeking to change practice settings ranked a desire to advance issues or values important to them among their most significant reasons for doing so. This was ranked among the least significant reasons five years ago.

• The second most common motivation for attending law school among 2022 Survey respondents was the desire to change or improve society, with 46% identifying it as one of their top three motivations. This motivation was identified more frequently than in the first Portrait Project survey (2016 Survey), where it was the fourth most common. Societal events since the previous survey may have influenced both recent law school graduates and more senior lawyers to foreground this motivation for attending law school.

• Among 2022 Survey respondents, 44% reported having become more involved in Asian American bar associations or other attorney organizations in response to events of the last five years, and 47% reported having become more involved in Asian American community organizations. First-generation immigrants in particular have reported increasing their participation in public protests or other forms of advocacy by or for Asian Americans: 43% of first-generation immigrants have increased their participation, compared to 26% of all other generations of immigrants.

• Almost as many survey respondents increased their participation in public protests or other forms of advocacy for issues important to Black Americans (26%) as for issues important to Asian Americans (27%) in the past five years.

Underrepresentation of Asian Americans in the top ranks of the legal profession persists. But there has been notable progress in the appointment of federal judges and in the ranks of general counsel, and law school enrollment has rebounded somewhat from a 20-year low.

"Compared to their numbers within the overall law firm population, Asian Americans are less represented than other groups at the management level. Although Asian Americans comprised 7.8% of all attorneys in the Vault/MCCA survey data for 2019, they held 4.1% of seats on executive management committees," cites the report. 

"African American/ Black and Hispanic/Latinx attorneys were better represented in these leadership roles relative to their respective numbers in the overall firm population. African American/Black attorneys made up 3.7% of all attorneys and 3.7% of management-level committee members, while Hispanic/Latinx attorneys made up 4.4% of all attorneys and 3.0% of management-level committee members."

• After Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) enrollment in law school declined during the Great Recession to a 20-year low in 2017, it increased by 14.5% from 2017 to 2021.

• The number of Asian American federal judges has increased over the past five years, comprising 6.0% of active federal judges compared to 3.4% in 2016.

• The proportion of law clerks who are Asian American has changed little over the past quarter century. In 1995, 6.4% of federal clerks and 4.5% of state clerks were Asian American. In 2021, those numbers were 5.8% for federal clerks and 6.3% for state clerks.

• In 2020, Asian Americans entered law firms upon graduating from law school at a higher rate than any other racial group, with 65.0% doing so. They entered government (7.5%), public interest (6.4%), and clerkships (7.2%) at the lowest rate of any racial group.

• Asian Americans continue to be the largest minority group at major law firms, but they continue to experience the highest attrition. They made up 7.8% of attorneys overall in 2019 but 10.4% of attorneys who left their firms that year. And they have the lowest ratio of partners to associates, as they did five years ago. Only 4.3% of equity partners at major firms in 2020 were Asian American; almost 90% were White.

• Only eight out of 2,396 elected prosecutors in the United States identified as Asian American in 2019, and only one Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney identifies as Asian American.

• In 2020, there were 45 AAPI general counsel of Fortune 1000 companies, up from 19 in 2009.

Greater institutional support would likely reduce barriers to advancement and improve the professional lives of Asian American attorneys.

• As this study found five years ago, Asian Americans who had two or more mentors in law school were more likely to obtain a judicial clerkship. But one-third of 2022 Survey respondents indicated that they had no mentors in law school. Those who are the first in their families to attend law school were especially likely to report being unaware of the importance of mentorship to their careers.

• The obstacles to career advancement that 2022 Survey respondents identified most frequently remain the same as five years ago: a lack of formal leadership training programs, inadequate access to mentors and contacts, and a lack of recognition for their work.

• More 2022 Survey respondents, compared to 2016 Survey respondents, reported perceiving overt (41% versus 32%) and implicit (64% versus 58%) discrimination in the workplace because of their race.

• Almost 80% of 2022 Survey respondents reported experiencing anxiety since entering the legal profession, and 55% reported experiencing depression. Nearly half of the respondents who sought professional help for mental health problems reported skepticism about mental health providers’ competency to address cultural needs.

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