The following is an excerpt from a Gene Commander article exploring the growth in the number of women attorneys practicing in Colorado, which mirrors national demographic trends. The column, published by Law Week Colorado, highlights why law firms are faltering in their efforts to retain women attorneys, while more than half of the students at law schools accredited by the American Bar Association are female. The full article is available here.
The number of women attorneys in Colorado is trending steadily upward.
The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel’s recent annual report provides updated information culled from attorney registration data. One remarkable finding is that among actively licensed attorneys in Colorado, women under the age of 40 outnumber male counterparts. The proportion of women attorneys in their 20s and 30s edged out men for the first time in 2021, at 50.47%, and the figures continued to grow in 2022, with this demographic representing 51.42% of actively licensed attorneys in the state.
These figures are in step with national demographic trends. Since 2016, more than half of students at law schools accredited by the American Bar Association have been women. However, the picture is still lopsided when looking at lawyers across all age groups.