Washington. D.C. (Photo: Shutterstock)Hispanic Attorneys Continue to Be the Least Represented Minority Group in Washington
"I think the overarching facts is not anything new," said Leila Levi, president of the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C. "The numbers are abysmal all around, but what frustrates me the most is the lack of change over time."
December 23, 2019 at 05:00 AM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
Hispanic attorneys have made little progress breaking into the upper echelons of the Washington, D.C., legal market in the last decade, accounting for just 2% of federal and Big Law partners in the D.C. area, according to a recently published report.
The current figure is an increase of just one percentage point over the number provided 10 years ago, in 2009.
The report, published by the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia, looked at 10 years of data on more than 10,000 attorneys. The data was pulled from a variety of sources, including the National Association for Law Placement, the American Bar Association and federal government records.
"I think the overarching facts are not anything new. The numbers are abysmal all around, but what frustrates me the most is the lack of change over time," said Leila Levi, HBA-DC president and senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center.
The lack of progress is especially damning given that the D.C. legal market has grown by 4,311 attorneys, or 36%, since 2012. Hispanics are also the least represented among D.C. associates, accounting for just 3.71% of associates. Black associates make up 5.67% of the D.C. associate population. Asian associates account for 10.52%.
In fact, the percentage of Hispanic partners in D.C. is lower than the national percentage by half a percentage point, according to the report. And Hispanic attorneys are the least represented minority group in the federal government, representing 3.3% of D.C. federal attorneys.
In an October interview with ALM publication The Daily Business Review, National Hispanic Bar Association President Irene Oria said that the Bar will place a greater emphasis on supporting Hispanic attorneys in government as they "are at the frontline, battling the legal issues that are so important to our community."
"We have to be more vigilant and make sure we support our attorneys going into those sectors," Oria said at the time.
The report puts forth several solutions for boosting representation, including adopting the "Mansfield Rule" and partnering with the HBA and other affinity groups. Government agencies and big law firms must also address elitism and the over-reliance on ivy-league credentials in hiring decisions, said Richard Rodriguez, immediate past HBA-DC president and assistant attorney general at the Office of the Attorney General for Washington, D.C.
Many Hispanic attorneys are first-generation lawyers and come from less prestigious law schools. But where an attorney got their degree, Rodriguez argues, is not an accurate predictor for future success.
" I had a 3.4 GPA coming out of law school and have often faced the ivy league kids," said Rodriguez, who graduated from American University's law school in Washington, D.C. "They're nothing special, and firms need to stop looking at them exclusively."
|Read More:
Hispanic National Bar Association to Focus on Ensuring Integrity of 2020 Election
|This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Florida-Based Law Firms Start to Lag, As New York Takes a Bigger Piece of Deals
3 minute read
European, US Litigation Funding Experts Look for Commonalities at NYU Event
Trending Stories
- 1Gibson Dunn Sued By Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
- 2Trump's Solicitor General Expected to 'Flip' Prelogar's Positions at Supreme Court
- 3Pharmacy Lawyers See Promise in NY Regulator's Curbs on PBM Industry
- 4Outgoing USPTO Director Kathi Vidal: ‘We All Want the Country to Be in a Better Place’
- 5Supreme Court Will Review Constitutionality Of FCC's Universal Service Fund
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
