A first-of-its-kind survey of legal department diversity found 37% of the 41 organizations responding had nonwhites serving as chief legal officer or general counsel.

Lower-level legal positions had much less diversity, according to the survey done by ALM Intelligence in conjunction with Corporate Counsel. The percentages of nonwhites was 24% for senior legal department leadership, 25% for senior counsel/managing attorneys and 32% for counsel/attorneys.

After whites, African Americans had the largest representation at the CLO/GC level, where they hold 24% of the posts. But their representation was 11% or less in all the other categories.