Bloomberg Law, Black Law Interns In Decline Under Pressure From Conservatives:
The share of Black summer associates at US law firms shrank to its lowest level in more than a decade against the backdrop of a conservative push to end race- and gender-based preferences in school admissions and hiring, including a specific effort against legal internships.
The summer of 2025 marked the third straight year in which the proportion of Black summer associates declined, representing a 3.5 percentage point drop since a peak of about 12% in 2022, according to an annual study released Tuesday by the National Association for Law Placement [2025 Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms; Press Release]. Overall, the proportion of summer associates of color fell by 5.5 percentage points, to about 38%, the lowest since 2020.
“People are overly cautious and it’s causing them to over correct,” said Nikia Gray, executive director of NALP, an industry association focused on supporting legal careers. “It’s the summer associate pool that tells you what’s to come, and predicts what’s going to happen.” …
The decline in Black legal interns is likely to intensify in coming years, NALP’s Gray said. The first class of law students to enroll after the end of affirmative action will become eligible for summer associates programs next year.
“This a wild time and we will see how this plays out,” she said. “We know what we’re going to expect to see over the next couple of years and it’s going to be a real disparate impact on these students of color, and particularly Black students.”
- ABA Journal, Firms Hire Fewer Black Law Interns Because of Conservative Pressure
- Law360, White Males Continue To Dominate Partnership Ranks
- Reuters, Facing DEI Pressures, Some Law Firms Shield Data in Latest NALP Diversity Survey
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