It is no secret that significant work remains necessary to achieve diversity in the legal profession that is reflective of the population it serves and, like many other states, Delaware has its fair share of work cut out for it. But, with renewed commitment from the Supreme Court of Delaware (the court) and tremendous ongoing efforts by segments of the Delaware bar, there is every reason to be optimistic that with continued and even increased effort Delaware can begin closing that gap. In 2023, the American Bar Association (ABA) released the results of its 2023 National Lawyer Survey (the ABA Survey), which polled more than 1.3 million attorneys across the United States and its territories. The ABA survey indicates that while the population of the United States is a conglomerate of ethnicities, the legal profession remains one practiced predominantly by white male practitioners.

In 2023, attorneys of color comprised 21% of all attorneys in the United States, an increase from 11% in 2013. See ABA Survey at 23. Asians represented 6% of attorneys, which is nearly identical to the proportionate share of the United States population that identifies as Asian, 6.1%. See USA Facts (https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-and-demographics/our-changing-population/, accessed July 15, 2024). Six percent of attorneys are Hispanic in the United States, where approximately 19.1% of the national population is Hispanic. The representation of Hispanic attorneys saw an increase from 3.7% in 2013. Those who identify as mixed race currently make up 3% of attorneys, nearly mirroring the population percentage in the United States, 2.4%. Black attorneys accounted for 5% of attorneys in 2023 despite representing 12.6% of the nation's population. See ABA Survey at 24; USA Facts. Native Americans were counted at 0.5% of attorneys while comprising 0.9% of the U.S. population. As alluded to above, White attorneys accounted for 79% of attorneys in the United States while representing 58.9% of the population. Finally, in 2023, female practitioners accounted for 39% of all attorneys surveyed across the United States by the ABA, an increase from 34% in 2013.