Fulbright gets an F.

Well, here’s a change, maybe their grades aren’t high enough for me. From the Austin Chronicle:

• Five of Austin's largest law firms each earned an "A+" for their efforts to hire and retain minority attorneys, according to the seventh annual minority hiring report card compiled and reported by Austin's minority bar associations. According to the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin and the Austin Black Lawyers Association, minority hiring and retention at Austin's 27 largest law firms is actually down this year, with minority lawyers making up only 10.7% of the attorney workforce, down from 11.3% in 2005 (and down from a seven-year 11.6% high in 2003); statewide, minority membership in the State Bar of Texas is 14%. Amazingly, of the 573 partners at the largest firms, just 45 are minorities. On a brighter note, nearly 30% of all summer law clerks – 43 of 144 – were minorities. Pulling in top grades this year were Locke Liddell & Sapp with 18.4% minority attorneys, and Winstead Sechrest & Minick at 15.8%. Also in the top five: Jenkens & Gilchrist and Thompson & Knight, both at 14.3%, and Clark, Thomas & Winters, at 14%. On the flip side, four Austin heavyweights earned an "F" for their efforts – including Fulbright & Jaworski, Haynes and Boone, and Armbrust & Brown, who, according to the minority lawyer groups, refused to even participate in this year's report card. "In the past, every Austin law firm we surveyed has responded, even when its minority attorney numbers were not good," said Paul Ruiz, chair of the HBAA/ABLA Committee on Law Firm Hiring. "Armbrust & Brown's refusal to participate in our survey indicates to us that diversity and minority hiring are not a priority to the firm or its attorneys." In the report's seven-year stats, Bickerstaff Heath Pollan & Caroom take top honors with consistently high marks; the most improved award appears to go to Jenkens & Gilchrist, which has risen from an "F" in 2000 to an impressive "A+" two years running. – J.S.