Florida law firms have long been known for being among the most diverse in the country, especially in South Florida, given the area's high Hispanic population and status as an international, multicultural hub.

But, in taking a deeper look at the ranks of Florida firms, it becomes apparent that the diverse status that many of these firms have long enjoyed is not what it seems. Black attorneys are still underrepresented among Florida's largest firms.

Across the more than 200 national firms included in The American Lawyer's Diversity Scorecard, Black partners account for just 2% of partners and 3.4% of total head counts. These figures lag behind representation for Asian American attorneys and Hispanic attorneys.

And for the 10 Florida law firms included in this analysis, representation falls just below the national average: Black attorneys represent just 3% of total lawyer head count at these firms in all and only 1.97% of their partnerships.

Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod (23.1%), Shutts & Bowen (21.8%) and Wicker Smith O'Hara McCoy & Ford (20.5%) have the highest proportion of attorneys who identify as a minority. But none of these firms are in the top three for Black representation.

Akerman (5.76%), Carlton Fields (5.17%) and Greenberg Traurig (4.35%) boast the greatest percentage of Black attorneys among these firms. Greenspoon Marder (0.87%); Wicker Smith (0.89%); and GrayRobinson (1.49%) round out the bottom.

Carlton Fields president and CEO Gary Sasso said that firms need to look at each individual minority group as a distinct group of peoples who have faced their own unique challenges in the U.S. While second among Florida firms in regards to overall Black representation, Carlton Fields has the highest proportion of Black partners, at 4.21% of the firm's total partnership.

"I don't think we can responsibly address the issue of diversity by simply treating diversity as all-inclusive and relying exclusively on hiring women or hiring Hispanics in a market where there are a lot of Hispanics," Sasso said.

Sasso added that this delineation affects other groups as well, using LGBTQ+ people as an example.

"They have their own challenges. And they may not feel lifted up by what we do for women and Hispanics. Same goes for [Black attorneys] and that has been driven home by recent events," said Sasso, referencing the killing of George Floyd and the mourning and protests nationwide that have followed his death.

Akerman managing partner Scott Meyers said that while the firm's diversity representation figures are a good starting point, he noted that the firm "can't take a victory lap yet."

For Meyers, building a firm Black attorneys can feel welcome and empowered goes outside of looking simply inward through recruiting and retention programming. Firms, he said, must have a commitment to broader social justice. Akerman is a member of the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance and the ACLU Louisiana's Justice Lab: Putting Racist Policing on Trial initiative, which aims to challenge racially discriminatory policing practices and stops and seizures.

"It is not just enough to go out and recruit. You need to create an environment where our Black attorneys and other affinity groups feel welcome and want to stay with us," Meyers said.

The gap between Black representation and minority representation broadly has not escaped Bilzin Sumberg managing partner Al Dotson, who is Black.

While Bilzin has the highest proportion of minority attorneys — 21 of the firm's 89 attorneys are minorities — the firm got middling marks for Black representation: Just three of the firm's attorneys are Black; the rest of the firm's minority attorneys are Hispanic.

Dotson, for his part, wants that to change.

"I have met with the people in charge of our hiring team and we've had that very conversation," Dotson said. "We are diverse in a firm in many ways, and the diversity is skewed toward Hispanics, and I challenged them to do what we need to do to source good candidates for our firm."

In addition to participating in programs like Year Up, a nonprofit that seeks to increase minority representation in professional careers, Dotson has been personally involved in the firm's recruiting efforts. Most recently, Dotson visited Florida A&M, a historically black college, as part of an effort to recruit more Black summer associates.

Dotson subscribes to the belief that the good talent isn't just limited to the top 14 law schools or the highest-ranked state schools, a common philosophy among law firm leaders that diversity advocates see as a roadblock to greater representation.

"People choose schools for different reasons. Some may want a historically black experience in college. They want to remain in Florida or Orlando where a school is located for a variety of reasons. They may find, that for financial reasons, other schools may not be in their range," Dotson said. "Not in that variety is that they're incapable of being great lawyers."

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