Minorities made up 7.53 percent of equity partners at law firms surveyed by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, though they accounted for nearly 30 percent of those accepted as summer associates.

To address this gap, Littler Mendelson has launched a diversity program for associates that seems to be showing some results. When the program launched in 2013, one-quarter of the 22 participating associates left the firm.