Diversity of Inactive Attorneys
The State Bar’s annual report card on diversity in California’s legal profession stems from the State Bar’s statutory mandate and strategic directive to advance DEI in the profession. As part of a comprehensive effort to fulfill this mandate, the State Bar has conducted various research projects to gain an understanding of the attorney pipeline in California, spanning from law school enrollment to transitions out of legal practice.
The latter topic was explored in the recently published report, Profile of California’s Inactive Attorneys. In California, only attorneys with “active” status can practice law, and attorneys can voluntarily transfer to “inactive” status at any time and as often as they wish throughout their careers. On average, approximately 4,600 attorneys transition to inactive status annually. The study explored how the number of licensees in inactive status has changed over the last 10 years, what the demographic characteristics of attorneys who transferred to inactive status were in 2023, and why attorneys opt to leave the practice of law. The analysis was based on several data sources, including a voluntary survey attached to the 2023 application to transfer to inactive status. For more details about the study’s methodology, see the full report.
The number of California licensed attorneys with inactive status has increased by 38 percent over the last decade, reaching over 71,000 in 2023. This increase was primarily driven by attorneys aged 70 and older.
In 2023, inactive licensees 70 and older comprised 12 percent of all State Bar licensees compared to just 5 percent in 2013. See figure 18.
Note: The data in this figure reflects a count of the attorney population on January 1 of each year. For the most current data on licensees, see the State Bar’s website.
In 2023, white men and white women were the only groups of attorneys overrepresented among attorneys who transferred to inactive status compared with their representation among active attorneys.
Figure 19 explores the composition of active attorneys and transfers to inactive status by race/ethnicity, further disaggregated by gender identity. In the aggregate, women were not overrepresented among transfers to inactive status, but white women were, underscoring the importance of exploring outcomes by the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender identity. That white men and women attorneys were overrepresented among transfers to inactive status and attorneys of color are not might appear contrary to expectations, given the extensive literature and reporting on the challenges faced by women and attorneys of color in the legal profession, particularly women of color, which often lead them to exit legal practice. However, further examination of age and retirement plans by the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender identity sheds light on this phenomenon, particularly for white men.
Note: No attorneys who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native women transferred to inactive status in 2023. The following groups of attorneys who transferred to inactive status had cell sizes of 30 or less: Black men, American Indian/Alaska Native men, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander men, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander women, and Middle Eastern/North African women. Data on attorneys who identified as nonbinary or Other race/ethnicity is not displayed due to small cell size. For more details, see Appendix A in the report, Profile of California’s Inactive Attorneys.
All groups of attorneys of color were younger than white and black men and women when they transferred to inactive status.
Attorneys who transferred to inactive status in 2023 were older than active attorneys, with an average age of 61 years compared with active attorneys’ average age of 50 (see figure 20). White men who transferred to inactive status were, on average, 67 years old and Black men were 66. In contrast, all other men of color were, on average, in their fifties when they transferred to inactive status. The average age of white and Black women who transferred to inactive status was 59, while Latino and multiracial women were in their early fifties, Asian and Middle Eastern/North African women were in their forties, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander women were the youngest with an average age of 37 years old.
Men and women attorneys of color who transferred to inactive status were more likely than white men and women to report that they did not plan to retire from the workforce.
While most attorneys who transferred to inactive status attributed this transition to retirement, it is noteworthy that 43 percent did not plan to retire (see figure 21). This suggests that a substantial portion of attorneys effectively disqualify themselves from roles that necessitate an active law license. Gender differences in this regard are significant: over half (52 percent) of all women who transferred to inactive status did not plan to retire compared with just one-third of men.
Just 30 percent of white men who transferred to inactive status reported that they did not plan to retire. In contrast, over 40 percent of all men of color groups reported that they did not intend to retire, while more than 60 percent of Asian and Middle Eastern/North African men and all Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander men reported that their decision to transfer to inactive status was unrelated to retirement. Less than half of white women (45 percent) reported that they did not plan to retire. In contrast, the majority of all women of color groups reported that they did not plan to retire, with 76 percent of Asian women and all Middle Eastern/North African and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander women sharing this intent.
Analyses of age and retirement plans appear to provide suggestive evidence for why white men are overrepresented among transfers to inactive status. However, these two factors are less suggestive in understanding the overrepresentation of white women.
State Bar research on historical demographic trends among licensees has found that white men comprised the vast majority of attorneys admitted to practice law in California in 1970. As such, white men are one of the oldest groups of California licensees. White men were on average 67 years old when they transferred to inactive status and half were over age 70. The vast majority (70 percent) reported that their transfer to inactive status was due to workforce retirement. In contrast, the average age of white women who transferred to inactive status was 59, and just 55 percent of white women reported that their transfer was due to workforce retirement.
Attorneys who transition to inactive status for non-retirement reasons indicated a range of reasons, including factors related to their workplace experiences and those unrelated to it.
The 2023 survey explored whether workplace-related experiences in the legal profession played a role in the decision to transfer to inactive status. Respondents who participated in the voluntary survey attached to the 2023 application to transfer to inactive status were presented with 15 workplace conditions and asked, “Is your decision to move to inactive status based on negative experiences in the legal workplace with respect to any of these workplace factors? If so, please select the top three.”
"Alternative work schedule/flexible hours" was the most frequently identified workplace condition that influenced decisions to transfer inactive status for survey respondents from, the following groups: men, women, white, Latino, and Asian attorneys. “Diverse colleagues/networks” was Black attorneys’ most frequently chosen factor.
An analysis of an open-ended survey item that invited attorneys to expand upon their reason for transferring to inactive status found that many attorneys are choosing to transfer to inactive status because they practice in other states, do not practice at all, want to change careers, and have other personal reasons relating to family and health. In short, attorneys transfer to inactive status for various non-retirement reasons, both related to experiences in the workplace and those unrelated to it.