Diversity Trends Among
Newly Admitted Attorneys
The number of attorneys admitted to the State Bar more than doubled between 1970 and 1980 and stayed between 5,000 and 6,000 annually for the next few decades (see figure 11). The COVID-19 pandemic impacted this pattern in 2020. The July 2020 bar exam was rescheduled for October 2020, pushing the admissions timeline into early 2021 for those who passed that exam. As a result, just 2,661 attorneys were admitted in 2020, while slightly more than 10,000 were admitted in 2021. Over 5,400 attorneys were admitted in 2023.
People of color comprised 55 percent of attorneys admitted to the State Bar in 2023, marking an all-time high.
The share of attorneys newly licensed by the State Bar who identify as a woman and/or a person of color has increased substantially since 1970 (see figure 12). The newest cohorts in the legal profession are far more diverse than those in the profession for decades, with women comprising half of the newly admitted attorneys for the first time in 2003. People of color reached this milestone over 15 years later. In 2023, women comprised 56 percent of all newly admitted attorneys, and people of color comprised 55 percent, marking an all-time high for the representation of people of color. Detailed analyses of demographic changes that have occurred since 1990 and within the last five years are presented below.
Women of color comprised 33 percent of attorneys admitted to the State Bar in 2023.
Figure 13 explores the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender identity among newly admitted attorneys since 1990. The share of men and women of color who comprised newly admitted attorneys has increased significantly since 1990, when both groups comprised just 9 and 8 percent of newly admitted attorneys, respectively. However, the representation of women of color outpaced that of men of color; as of 2023, women of color comprised 33 percent of newly admitted attorneys, while men of color comprised 21 percent.
Conversely, both white men and women experienced significant declines in representation since 1990. In 1990, white men comprised nearly half of all newly admitted attorneys, while white women comprised one-third. In 2023, white men and women comprised 22 and 23 percent of attorneys of newly admitted attorneys, respectively.
The State Bar’s new licensees have become more racially and ethnically diverse since 1990, but the rate of change has varied by racial/ethnic group.
Figure 14 explores the detailed race/ethnicity of newly admitted attorneys. Over the last three decades, the Latino share of newly admitted attorneys nearly tripled from 4 percent in 1990 to 11 percent in 2023. Over the same period, the proportion of newly licensed Black attorneys nearly doubled from 3 percent to 5 percent. However, the proportion of new licensees who are Asian has more than tripled, and the proportion who identify as multiracial has more than quadrupled. The rapid growth in Asian attorneys began in the 1990s and has since leveled off. Middle Eastern/North Africans also experienced steady growth and comprised 5 percent of all newly admitted attorneys in 2023.
Asian and multiracial women experienced the largest growth in representation among newly admitted attorneys since 1990.
Figure 15 examines the evolving trends at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender identity among newly admitted attorneys since 1990. That year, Asian women comprised just 2 percent of newly admitted attorneys but in 2023 comprised 13 percent. Multiracial women also experienced significant growth, increasing their representation from 1 percent in 1990 to 8 percent in 2023.
The rate of change varies by gender identity for some racial/ethnic groups. For example, although the representation of both Latino men and women among newly admitted attorneys has increased since 1990, Latino men’s share doubled while Latina’s share tripled. Similarly, the growth in representation for Asian women outpaced that of Asian men over the same period. The proportion of newly licensed Black women attorneys increased from 2 to 3 percent, while the proportion of Black men remained flat at 2 percent.
The representation of women and people of color has increased over the last five years—change that was driven by women of color.
Figure 16 explores how the diversity of newly admitted attorneys has changed over the last five years for women, people of color, and the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender identity. In 2019, women and people of color comprised 53 and 50 percent of newly admitted attorneys, respectively. The 2020 admitted cohort’s diversity was impacted by the decline in the number of admitted attorneys, with the share of attorneys identifying as women and people of color declining to 50 and 49 percent, respectively. However, in 2021, when more than 10,000 attorneys were admitted, the percentage of newly admitted attorneys who were women and people of color increased to 56 and 53 percent, respectively. Both groups experienced a slight decline in 2022 but rebounded in 2023, with women making up 56 percent of newly admitted attorneys and people of color comprising 56 percent.
Growth for women of color was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic: their share of admitted attorneys dropped two percentage points (29 percent to 27 percent). In contrast, the share of white men among the 2020 cohort of new attorneys increased by three percentage points compared with the prior year (25 percent to 28 percent). In 2021, the share of women of color among newly admitted attorneys rebounded, and women of color became the largest group of newly admitted attorneys and have remained so since then. Women of color drive increasing racial/ethnic and gender diversity among attorneys admitted to practice law in California. In contrast, although the representation of men of color and the number of newly admitted attorneys has increased since 2019, their representation among attorneys admitted in 2023 was lower than it was in 2022. White women’s representation has declined slightly since 2019, while the decline in white men’s representation has been larger.
In the last five years, all nonwhite racial/ethnic groups have experienced an increase in representation among newly admitted attorneys except for American Indian/Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders
Trend data points in figure 17 and table 1 are displayed by tenths to provide finer detail . While the share of white attorneys has declined among newly admitted attorneys since 2019, all nonwhite racial/ethnic groups experienced an increase in representation except for American Indian/Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, who saw a decline in their numbers (see figure 17). In 2023, the State Bar admitted just seven American Indian/Alaskan Natives and four Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders. See the “Dig Deeper” button below for the number of admittees for all racial/ethnic groups.
The increasing racial/ethnic diversity among newly admitted attorneys is driven by women, as noted in the overall finding about the increase in women of color. However, this varies by racial/ethnic group, with the representation of Asian, Middle Eastern/North African, and multiracial women steadily increasing, while that of Black women experiencing a slight downward trend despite being higher than it was in 2019. White men and several groups of men of color experienced a slight decrease in representation in 2023 compared with the prior year, including Asian men, Black men, and multiracial men.
