Large law firms before the pandemic hired more Hispanic, Black and Asian associates, but firms continued to struggle with the attrition of diverse lawyers and moving them into the partnership, according to the third iteration of the American Bar Association’s Model Diversity Survey.

The survey found firms increased their share of hires for Hispanic (1.5%), Black (1%) and Asian (0.6%) associates in 2019, the latest year the ABA data was available. There were also moderate increases in the percentage of promotions accounted for by racially and ethnically underrepresented and female associates to equity partnership.