Shades of Difference

Same law firm, different worlds? Black summer associates rate their firm’s training and guidance lower than white summer associates do. Compared to their white colleagues, black midlevel associates feel they have worse relations with partners and other associates. At both the summer associate and associate levels, African Americans say they get less feedback from firms than their white counterparts report.

These are some of the striking results from our first-ever Minority Experience Survey. Each year our sibling publications The American Lawyer and The American Lawyer Student Edition survey midlevel associates and summer associates to get the inside scoop on working at the country’s largest law firms. Law students and young lawyers answer a range of questions about the quality and quantity of their work, the support and feedback provided by their firm, and their overall job satisfaction level. The results are published as the Associates Survey and the Summer Associates Survey.