Learn about the types of people who become lawyers. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Employment Type Mix, 2024
91% of lawyers work in full-time roles while 9% work part-time.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a lawyer. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming lawyers at a ratio of 1.20 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2024
61% of lawyers are female and 39% are male.
Gender Bias, 2024
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a lawyer and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a lawyer and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are more men interested in becoming a lawyer than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of lawyers are White, making up 55% of the population. The next highest segments are Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish and South Asian, making up 11% and 9% respectively.