The job market remains strong for new lawyers, but racial gaps persist. The latest data from the National Association for Law Placement shows the employment rate for the Class of 2024 reached 93.4%. Still, disparities continue across racial groups.
According to NALP’s annual report, “Jobs & JDs: Employment and Salaries of New Graduates, Class of 2024,” employment rates were lower for Asian, Black, Latinx, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander graduates than for White graduates, who reported a 94.7% employment rate. Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander graduates experienced the lowest overall rate at 89.3%.
The gap widened further in attorney positions that require bar admission. White graduates were employed in these roles at the highest rate at 86.5%. Rates were significantly lower for Black graduates at 74.3% and for Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander graduates.
Judicial clerkships showed similar disparities. Although graduates of color made up 33.7% of the class, they secured only 27.1% of all clerkships. Latinx graduates were especially underrepresented in both overall and federal clerkships.
Nikia Gray, executive director of NALP, said the report’s findings for the Class of 2024 establish a critical benchmark for understanding how recent policy and cultural shifts may shape the legal employment landscape.
“Because this class graduated just before the wave of challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion, their outcomes provide a vital reference point for assessing how changes in employer policies and practices will affect future graduates, particularly graduates of color, and whether these existing employment disparities widen or narrow,” Gray said.
Private practice access is uneven
Racial differences were also clear in private practice employment. Native American, Alaska Native, Black and Native Hawaiian graduates were the least likely to work in private practice, while Asian graduates had the highest private practice placement rate at 66%.
First-generation students face additional barriers
Disparities also appeared when comparing first-generation college students to graduates with at least one lawyer parent. Continuing generation J.D. students had an overall employment rate of 96.6%, compared to 93.3% for first-generation graduates. They also held higher rates of bar-required positions.
First-generation graduates were less represented in judicial clerkships and large law firms.
Nearly one third of first-generation graduates working in private practice were employed at small firms of one to ten lawyers. In contrast, students with a lawyer parent were far more likely to work in firms of more than 500 lawyers and were significantly overrepresented in federal clerkships. They made up 14.2% of the class but held 20.7% of all federal clerkships.
