For the third consecutive year, Law360 has named BAL as one of the nation’s Best US Law Firms for Minority Attorneys in its annual Diversity Snapshot. Law360 also named BAL a Best Law Firm for Minority Equity Partners for the second year in a row.

According to Law360, BAL has above-average minority representation at all levels of the firm, ranking fifth among its peer group for minority attorney representation and ninth for minority equity partner representation. At BAL, minority attorneys make up more than 37 percent of attorneys, 29 percent of partners and 28 percent of equity partners. By contrast, Law360’s 2017 Diversity Snapshot shows that racial and ethnic minorities make up just shy of 16 percent of the attorneys employed by U.S. law firms, a number that inched up incrementally over the previous year. Among the more than 300 law firms surveyed, minorities make up about 9 percent of partners.

Law360 surveyed more than 300 US firms, or vereins with a U.S. component, about their overall and minority headcount numbers as of Dec. 31, 2017. Only U.S.-based attorneys were included in the survey, and firms had to have at least 20 U.S.-based attorneys to participate. Some BAL attorneys declined to self-identify a race.