It took a decade, but the percentage of black associates at law firms in the United States has finally returned to its pre-recession level.

In 2019, black lawyers comprised 4.76% of the associate ranks, which is the highest figure since 2009 when they were 4.66% of all associates, according to new data from the National Association for Law Placement (NALP). That recovery is among a handful of bright spots in NALP's latest Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms, which includes data on partners and associates in nearly 1,000 law firm offices.

The associate ranks saw the biggest diversity gains, with the percentage of minorities increasing 1.2 percentage points to 25.44% in 2019—much of which is attributable to increases among Asian American lawyers. The percentage of women associates increased for the fourth straight year, landing at 46.77%—the highest percentage in the 27 years that NALP has been collecting this data. And the percentage of minority women in associate positions increased one percentage point over the past year, to 14.48%.

But the partner ranks saw more incremental movement on diversity, according to NALP. The percentage of minority partners grew less than a half of a percentage point in 2019, to 9.55%. That figure was just 7.6% when looking only at minority equity partners. And women partners went from 23.26% in 2018 to 24.17% in 2019, and now compose 20.3% of equity partners. But the percentage of black partners remains discouragingly low, at 1.97%. That figure was 1.83% in 2018 and 2017.

"The overall arc of the storyline for large law firm diversity remains the same—it is one of slow incremental gains for women and people of color in both the associate and partnership ranks, interrupted by some recession-era setbacks, but at a rate so slow as to almost seem imperceptible at times," said NALP executive director James Leipold in his report commentary.

Leipold noted that while it's good news that a percentage of black associates has finally rebounded to pre-recession levels, it's tragic that it took 10 years to get back to such a "meager benchmark" of less than 5%.

Meanwhile, NALP noted perceptible gains in LGBT representation at law firms. Among summer associates, 7% identified at LGBT in 2019, as did more than 4% of all associates.

Law firm diversity also varies greatly by geography, according to the new NALP report. Miami, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle and Los Angeles have higher percentages of minority partners and associates than do other major legal centers, including New York, Chicago and Washington.

"Having watched these numbers carefully for more than 15 years, I have become convinced that despite steady gains, great structural and cultural hurdles remain that prevent law firms from being able to measure more rapid progress in increasing diversity, particularly among the partnership ranks," Leipold wrote.