Author
According to new data analysis by the National Disabled Legal Professionals Association (NDLPA), approximately 4.4 percent of all workers in legal occupations identified as having a disability in 2024.[i] Among employed lawyers, judges, magistrates, and other judicial workers, a measly 5 percent identify as disabled, according to 2023 American Community Survey (ACS).[ii] Disabled workers are most concentrated in the legal support field, such as in administrative and clerical roles.
According to the American Bar Association (ABA), “No reliable statistics exist on the total number of lawyers with disabilities throughout the legal profession.” Previously published research and analysis has been relatively limited. In 2024, the ABA found that 5.4 percent of its lawyer members identified as having a disability. According to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), disabled lawyers represented about 1.41 percent of partners and 1.99 percent of all lawyers at firms in 2023. Bloomberg Law’s Path to Practice Survey asks survey participants whether they are neurodivergent; in fall 2024, only 8 percent identified as such. Comparatively, in 2022, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) found that only 12 percent of first-year law students identified as having a disability. Due to the discrepancies among these data, it is difficult to draw conclusions.
NDLPA’s progress toward improving disability representation in the legal profession is difficult to quantify without accurate, inclusive, and current data. As a result, NDLPA has conducted its own analysis on disability representation in the legal profession using American Community Survey (ACS) data from 2023 and newly-released Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data from 2024.
Disabled people make up at least 28 percent of adults in the United States, as of 2023. Despite the high percentage of disabled adults in the United States, disabled people made up only 7.4 percent of employed individuals in 2023, according to ACS data.[iii] But even compared to overall employment rates, disabled people are even further underrepresented in the legal profession, with only 5 percent of lawyers, judges, magistrates, and other judicial workers identifying as disabled.[iv] Comparatively, according to newly-released BLS 2024 data, a meager 4.4 percent of all workers in legal occupations identified as having a disability.[v]
While, according to 2023 ACS data, the percentage of disabled workers among law clerks, legal support workers, paralegals, and legal professionals is comparatively higher, disabled people are still underrepresented in those professions when compared with the number of disabled people overall. Only 9.1 percent of legal support workers, 7.1 percent of paralegals and legal assistants, and 5.8 percent of judicial law clerks identified as disabled.[vi]
When considering factors such as race and sex, failure to represent individuals of diverse backgrounds and identities in the legal profession becomes even more apparent. Of disabled lawyers, 36 percent were women and 64 percent were men, according to 2023 ACS data.[vii] Comparatively, of all lawyers, 59.6 percent are men and 40.4 percent are women.[viii]When looking at all legal occupations through 2024 BLS data, a majority of all disabled legal professionals were women.[ix]
Among disabled lawyers, the large majority are white: 76.1 percent of disabled lawyers are white, 6.1 percent of disabled lawyers are Black, 0.6 percent of all disabled lawyers are American Indian/Alaska Native, and 3.4 percent of disabled lawyers are Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.[x] Comparatively, among all lawyers, 78.2 percent are white, 5.9 percent are Black, 5.2 percent are Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. While disabled lawyers are slightly more likely to identify as people of color than compared with all attorneys, disabled lawyers of color are still significantly underrepresented in the legal profession. At the same time, although only a mere 0.3% percent of lawyers are American Indian/Alaska Native, American Indian/Alaska Native lawyers are the most likely to have a disability at almost 11 percent.[xi]
Several factors likely contribute to this underrepresentation of disabled individuals in the legal profession, including inaccessible high stakes testing, the inability to obtain accommodations in law school, inaccessible and exclusionary law school culture, discriminatory questionnaires and character and fitness processes required for admission, difficulty obtaining accommodations while employed, toxic workplaces cultures, and the prevailing stigma that comes with openly identifying as disabled, among others.
While NDLPA has conducted this critical analysis, it is still important that the legal community pursue more targeted surveys for data on the composition of the legal profession that is as accurate and inclusive as possible, including disability data. NDLPA recognizes that these data also fail to capture all individuals with disabilities, particularly those with mental health conditions, chronic illness, and communication related disabilities. Data is critical to for shaping policy solutions, constructing narratives, and support systemic changes aimed at improving access and inclusion in the legal profession. NDLPA looks forward to continuing to collaborate with allies and partners to pave a new path forward.
[i] Author’s calculation using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024 labor force characteristics of persons with disabilities data. See Table 3. Employed people by disability status, occupation, and sex, 2024 annual averages, U.S. Bureau of Lab. Stats. (Feb. 25, 2025), https://www.bls.gov/news.release/disabl.t03.htm.
[ii] Author’s calculation using IPUMS USA: 2023 American Community Survey. Study: 2023 ACS Sample, IPUMS USA, https://usa.ipums.org/usa/index.shtml (last visited Feb. 25, 2025). People are identified as having a disability if they responded that they have difficulty in one or more of the following realms: vision, hearing, cognitive, ambulatory, self care, and independent living.
[iii] Supra note 2.
[iv] Id.
[v] Supra note 1.
[vi] Supra note 2.
[vii] Id.
[viii] Id.
[ix] Supra note 1.
[x] Supra note 2.
[xi] Id.