Colleges and universities for years have sought to diversify student bodies and faculties. Law schools have as well. Although there has been some improvement, most would agree that there is much work to be done

Law firms have found it considerably more difficult to diversify the attorney ranks. Things are not likely to get much better with President Trump targeting large law firms in his war on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

In a book review (“BigLaw’s Race Problem”, 25 Columbia Law Review 703 (2025)),  Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig and Professor Anthony Victor Alfieri take a look at big law firms’ “race problem.” Here is an abstract of the review:

“Ever since the 1970s when BigLaw firms began to hire Black lawyers into their associate ranks, these firms have wrestled with problems in both recruiting and retaining Black associates. During the ensuing decades, BigLaw firms have minimally increased the low numbers of Black attorneys who have become partners, particularly equity partners, within their organizations. Numerous scholars have explored how racial bias and discrimination, both within BigLaw firms and greater society, have contributed to such failures in the recruitment, retention, and promotion of Black lawyers. In his new book The Black Ceiling: How Race Still Matters in the Elite Workplace, Professor Kevin Woodson, a Black law professor and sociologist who once worked as an associate at a large, elite law firm, offers his own theory about how racial discomfort,' and specifically social alienation' and `stigma anxiety’ related to race, have functioned together to create and maintain racial disparities in BigLaw attrition and partnership. The Book Review extends Woodson’s research by identifying and assessing innovative firm- and industry-wide policies that can mitigate the impact of racial discomfort on Black associates’ prospects for thriving in and attaining partnership at BigLaw firms.”