Can Women and Minority Lawyers Duplicate the 'Jewish Law Firm' Success Story?

The New York Law Journal recently published a story with the provocative title, "Can the 'Jewish Law Firm' Success Story be Duplicated? "

The article highlights the empirical research of Eli Wald (Denver Law), who is doing some interesting work on the rise of Jewish lawyers within the  New York corporate bar.  Wald's research includes interviews with numerous Jewish lawyers who joined large law firms between 1946 and 1962, essentially breaking a de facto ethnic barrier.  Eventually the taboo of hiring Jewish lawyers exploded in the 1970's when predominantly Jewish law firms, such as Skadden Arps, Weil Gotshal, Paul Weiss, Fried Frank, Kaye Scholer, and Wachtell Lipton, became the counsel of choice for corporations seeking innovative solutions to old problems.  (For an eye-opening contemporaneous account of the pre-1970s discrimination, see Notes and Comments, The Jewish Law Student and New York City Jobs -- Discriminatory Effects in Law Firm Hiring Practices [Hein Online], 73 Yale L. J. 625 (1964)).

According to Wald, the bottom-line is that the Jewish success story reflects a unique historical occurrence that is unlikely to be duplicated by female or minority lawyers.   Bruce MacEwen, who writes the Adam Smith, Esq. blog on law firm economics, has a very informative and insightful analysis of Wald's findings.  Both the NYLJ story and MacEwen's commentary are recommended reading.

Comments

[College Person]

We disagree also. We have lots of women who come to our website and search out scholarships for law. We know the numbers and we also know from the award providers how many women are applying and receiving money to attend law school. We are www.freetoapply.com

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[William Henderson]

Carolyn, I am an admirer of your blog on solo and small firm lawyers, which I use in my Law Firms class.

Re Wald's conclusion, I would like to believe, as you do, that he is being too pessimistic. But the analogue is far from perfect. Corporate firms heavily recruit female and minority lawyers, but they have a hard time retaining them. In contrast, prior to the 1970s, Jewish lawyers were not recruited, and those that were hired were not made partner.

Based on my own reading and research, I am convinced there is more to the story that simple discrimination. And yes, push back from clients makes a difference. When female and minority lawyers become the relationship partners, rather than diverse faces on a team, the attrition problem will stop.

Are clients demanding females and minorities as lead lawyers? My guess is no, not in significant numbers.

[Carolyn Elefant]

I disagree. As I posted at LegalBlogwatch here: http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2006/05/does_jewish_his.html
corporations are beginning to demand diversity from the law firms they hire. Given that firms cannot offer this diversity, women and minority lawyers are starting their own practices that will attract corporate business. At that point, you will see large firms begin to buy up or merge with women and minority owned firms just as they did in the case of Jewish owned firms. Problem is that women and minorities are encouraged to play within the caste system instead of going out on their own.