ABA Profile of Legal Profession and Women in Law

One of the best sources for statistics on women in the legal profession.

ABA, ABA Profile of the Legal Profession 2023, Women in Law

The percentage of female lawyers has slowly inched up in recent years, according to the ABA National Lawyer Population Survey, a tally of lawyers by licensing agencies in every state. In 2010, fewer than one-third of all lawyers (31%) were women. Thirteen years later, in 2023, 39% of all lawyers were women.

The long-term trend is easier to see when viewed over the course of decades. The biggest growth in female lawyers came in the 1980s and ’90s. From 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women. The percentage increased to 8% in 1980, 20% in 1991 and 29% in 2000.  

The trend is also apparent at law schools. The number of male students has declined every year for the past 12 years – from 78,516 in 2010 to 50,969 in 2022. Meanwhile, the number of female law school students has increased every year for the past six years – from 55,766 in 2016 to 65,073 in 2022. Women now significantly outnumber men in U.S. law schools, and the gap is widening. In 2022, there were 14,000 more female students than male students.

The number of female federal judges has increased dramatically. The first woman was appointed to the federal judiciary in 1928, when 217 men held that position. By 1950, there were still only three female federal judges. That rose to 46 in 1980. And by Oct. 1, 2023, there were 455 women on the federal bench – nearly one-third of all federal judges (32%).

The picture is somewhat different in state Supreme Courts, where 42% of all high-court justices are women, according to a 2023 survey by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. That’s nearly the same as the share of all lawyers who are women nationally: 39%.