By: Miriam S. Edelstein, Esq. 

This year, the DE&I Committee is focusing on three goals:  

1. Attract more members of underrepresented communities to the plaintiffs’ bar and NJAJ.
2. Engage more NJAJ members in our DE&I discussions and efforts; and
3. Enhance communication of our DE&I efforts to the NJAJ membership.

 As one of the committee’s co-chairs, I wanted to share some data that I believe highlights the necessity of that first goal.  This goal goes hand-in-hand with President Lederman’s focus on increasing NJAJ’s outreach to law students, as well as to increase our ranks, generally, but also seeks to advance NJAJ’s DE&I mandate as expressed in our Statement of Mission and Values “to nurture and encourage future leaders of our fellowship and of the bar . . . regardless of gender, age, military status or service, family status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, national origin, nationality, ancestry, religion or creed, mental or physical challenges, cellular or genetic trait[.]”

The data we have shows that for several historically underrepresented groups, our profession as a whole maintains a large discrepancy between the percentage of attorneys who hail from those groups versus the percentage of our general population that is made up of those groups. This incongruence is demonstrable when looking at the numbers nationwide, but appears to be even larger when we look at New Jersey’s data, specifically.

The following table shows the percentages of all women, Black/African American individuals and Hispanic/Latino individuals employed as lawyers nationwide in the U.S. for the years 2013 and 2023 (published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), compared with the percentages for each group in the general U.S. population, as reported in the decennial census for the closest years (2010 and 2020, respectively, published by the U.S. Census Bureau):

United States

Over this 10-year period, the gap between the demographic make-up of our general population and that of our profession remained troublingly wide, and in the case of Hispanic/Latino individuals, that gap has even increased.  More troubling is the wider gap we see in comparing New Jersey’s numbers in our statewide population with the numbers of these groups who make up our practicing attorneys.  The following table compares the percentages of these same demographic groups reported in the 2020 census data for New Jersey’s population overall with the percentages as reported by the NJ Courts from the data in attorney registrations for 2023-2024: 

We do not have more specific data yet to give us a comprehensive picture of NJAJ’s membership, which is why we implore all of our members to help us understand the make-up of NJAJ better by filling out our Membership Demographic Data Survey.  But I can provide a couple anecdotal data points that, to me, suggest that we, too, have a long way to go.  First, out of our 2,500+ membership, we still struggle to find new members to serve as ambassadors to various affinity bar associations.  Second, as far as I know, I have yet to meet another member who openly identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community.  For a population reference point, the Gallup/Williams Institute 2019 survey showed that 4.1% of the adult (18+) population in New Jersey identified as part of that community.

 We are always trying to increase our ranks and encourage more practitioners to join the good fight in the plaintiffs’ bar, as well as grow NJAJ’s membership.  But what these data and observations tell me is that we need to do more to identify specific challenges that may inhibit those from underrepresented groups to choose this path, and see whether, as an organization, we can help overcome those challenges.  It could be through more outreach and education to dispel myths that those without personal connections to our practices may have, or through broadcasting more widely the access to resources NJAJ can provide to new attorneys that can match or exceed the resources one expects to find at a large defense firm.

Most likely, the challenges are varied and the solutions will need to be as well.  That is the work that the DE&I Committee is focused on to attract more members of underrepresented communities to our profession and NJAJ so that we can ensure that, as we grow our ranks, we do not maintain or increase any deficits of the voices and perspectives of the very communities we represent.  We invite all those who can to join us in this endeavor, and we will share opportunities to get involved in the coming months.

Miriam S. Edelstein, Esq., is Counsel at Costello, Mains & Silverman, LLC, focusing on plaintiff-side employment and civil rights litigation. She is member of the NJAJ Board of Governors, the Education Committee, the Civil Rights Committee and the Women Trial Lawyers Caucus, and a co-chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. She can be reached at medelstein@costellomains.com or at 856-727-9700.