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NALP: 2025 law graduates of color trailed white peers in employment, gap widest for attorney jobs
White members of the law school class of 2025 had a 94.4% employment rate about ten months after graduation, compared with 90.8% for graduates of color, the National Association for Law Placement said in its Jobs & JDs release on October 14, 2026, reported by the ABA Journal. Black graduates had the lowest rate, 87%, down from nearly 90% for the class of 2024. The overall employment rate was 92.8%.
Paper (National Association for Law Placement) → · ABA Journal, Above the Law
Key points
- In jobs requiring bar admission, white graduates were employed at 87.1%, graduates of color at 81.6% and Black graduates at 72.6%.National Association for Law PlacementABA Journal
- Hispanic graduates were employed at 91.2% and Asian graduates at 91.9%; Middle Eastern or North African graduates led bar-required jobs at 87.4%.National Association for Law PlacementABA Journal
- First-generation college graduates were employed at 92.3%, against 94.1% for peers whose parents attended college.National Association for Law PlacementABA Journal
- Roughly 50 firms that previously supplied demographic data to NALP declined to do so this year.ABA Journal
- NALP executive director Nikia Gray said a law degree should open doors, but they are not equally open to everyone.National Association for Law PlacementABA JournalAbove the Law
Sources3 articles across 3 outlets
ABA Journal
Above the Law
National Association for Law Placement