It’s the start of Chinese New Year–the Year of the Rabbit–so what

It’s the start of Chinese New Year–the Year of the Rabbit–so what better time to check on the state of Asian American lawyers?

Arguably, all that “You-better-make-straight-A’s-or-I-will-kill-you-then-commit suicide-myself” Chinese parenting style must be paying off, because Asian American lawyers seem to be at all the elite, swanky firms.

In New York, Asians represent over 50 percent of all minority lawyers, reports The New York City Bar in its latest diversity study. Nationally, they make up about half of all minority associates, reports NALP in its January bulletin. Moreover, even during the economic turbulence, when minority lawyer figures declined from 19.67 percent in 2009 to 19.53 percent in 2010, Asian Americans actually saw their numbers increase, from 9.28 percent to 9.39 percent.

Asian American lawyers are on a roll, right? Not exactly.

The bottom line is that Asian American lawyers thin out at the top. In fact, they are losing ground, says the NYCB study: “Over multiple periods of tracking the diversity benchmark data, the representation of Asian attorneys consistently declined with increasing levels.” The study says that, among minority lawyers, they represented 55 percent of associates, 49 percent of partners, and 36 percent of practice group heads, as of March 2010.

What’s puzzling about the data, says Lisa Levey, who led the NYCB research, is that there’s no obvious reason for the consistent decline of Asians in the upper ranks. Unlike women who bail out of the profession in greater numbers, “Asians have attrition rates that parallel the overall rate,” says Levey. Logically, then, Asians should be rising through the system.

“We have to contend with the myth of the model minority,” says Yang Chen, executive director of The Asian American Bar Association of New York, about how Asian lawyers are presumed to be successful. “People are surprised that we need an organization for Asian lawyers. They always say to me, ‘But you’re all so successful.'” It might be news to everyone else, but the lack of upward movement is hardly a surprise to the Asian American lawyers, says Chen.

But I thought I found a silver lining in the NYCB study: Asian Americans are increasingly heading up practice groups. In 2007, Asians represented just over 14 percent of all minorities leading a practice area, while in 2010, that figure jumped up to 36.1 percent.

Chen, however, is not that impressed. “Maybe they’re leading an Asian practice group or intellectual property,” he says, pointing to the two areas where Asians tend to get slotted. “If they’re heading corporate or general litigation, then I’d be more impressed.”

So are Asian Americans choosing other career paths as they get closer to partnership or are they getting sidelined?