Biglaw

More Than 100 Biglaw Firms Tackled Their Diversity Issues During The Pandemic

This is a great start but there's still much more work that needs to be done.

By  
on

Diversity continues to be a difficult concept for law firms to wrap their arms around, and to do so during a pandemic seemed all but impossible, but somehow, someway, they did it. More than 100 firms were able to deliver on their commitment to diversity during the worst of times, all thanks to the Mansfield certification process.

Back in 2017, the Diversity Lab came up with the idea to hold Biglaw firms accountable for their diversity goals by employing a program modeled after the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for head coach or general manager vacancies. Here, the Mansfield rule — named for Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to practice law in the U.S. — encourages Biglaw firms to consider two or more candidates who are women, LGBTQ+, or attorneys of color when hiring for leadership and governance roles, promoting attorneys to equity partner, and hiring lateral attorneys. To be considered “Mansfield Certified” by Diversity Lab, a firm needs to show that 30 percent of the candidate pool for these positions are diverse.

For the first time during Diversity Lab’s four-year-old program, all firms involved in this round were able to achieve certification. This time around, Mansfield 4.0, firms that wanted to achieve “Mansfield Plus” certification had to ensure that 30% of the lawyers staffed on matters resulting from formal pitch meetings be from historically underrepresented groups (on top of the existing requirement that these lawyers make up 30% of notable leadership roles). Ninety-two of the 118 Mansfield-certified firms achieved “Mansfield Plus” certification during the pandemic.

As reported by the American Lawyer, firms that dedicated themselves to diversity saw a real change in the composition of their leadership:

[W]hile non-Mansfield firms saw racial and ethnic diversity in their management committees stay relatively the same, from 8.6% to 8.7%, between 2017 to 2019, Mansfield firms saw a 4.4 percentage point increase, from 8.2% to 12.6% in that same time frame. The increase among Mansfield firms was about 30 times more than the increase among non-Mansfield firms.

“Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, the Mansfield Rule certified firms have not deviated from their goal of ensuring that law firm leadership reflects the rich diversity of the profession,” said Natalia Marulanda, Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule director. “We are enormously proud to work with such a committed group of firms.”

So, which firms are now Mansfield certified? Here are the 118 firms — and those with an asterisk are “Mansfield Plus” certified.

Sponsored

Akerman*
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld*
Allen & Overy*
Archer & Greiner
Arent Fox
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer*
Baker Botts*
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell& Berkowitz*
Baker McKenzie*
Ballard Spahr*
Beveridge & Diamond*
Blank Rome*
Boies Schiller Flexner
Bricker & Eckler*
Brown Rudnick
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck*
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner*
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney*
Buckley
Chapman and Cutler*
Clifford Chance
Clyde & Co.
Cooley*
Covington & Burling*
Cozen O’Connor*
Crowell & Moring
Davis Wright Tremaine*
Day Pitney*
Dechert*
Dentons*
Dentons Canada*
Dinsmore & Shohl*
DLA Piper*
Dorsey & Whitney*
Duane Morris*
Eversheds Sutherland*
Faegre Drinker*
Fasken*
Fenwick & West*
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner*
Fish & Richardson*
Fisher & Phillips*
Foley Hoag
Fredrikson & Byron*
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer*
Frost Brown Todd*
Goodwin
Goulston & Storrs*
Greenberg Traurig*
Hanson Bridgett*
Haynes and Boone*
Hogan Lovells*
Holland & Hart*
Holland & Knight*
Hunton Andrews*
Husch Blackwell*
Ice Miller
Jackson Lewis*
Jenner & Block*
K&L Gates
Katten Muchin Rosenman*
Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck
Kean Miller*
Lane Powell*
Latham & Watkins*
Littler Mendelson*
Locke Lord*
Lowenstein Sandler
MG+M The Law Firm*
Mayer Brown
McDermott Will & Emery*
McGuireWoods*
Miller Canfield*
Miller Nash Graham & Dunn*
Morgan Lewis*
Morris, Manning & Martin
Morrison & Foerster*
Munger, Tolles & Olson*
Neal Gerber Eisenberg
Nixon Peabody*
Norton Rose Fulbright*
Nutter
O’Melveny & Myers*
Orrick*
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler*
Paul Hastings*
Perkins Coie*
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman*
Polsinelli*
Porter Wright Morris & Arthur*
Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch*
Reed Smith*
Robins Kaplan*
Robinson & Cole
Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr*
Schiff Hardin*
Seyfarth Shaw*
Shearman & Sterling*
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton*
Shipman & Goodwin*
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom*
Stinson*
Stoel Rives*
Stoll Keenon Ogden
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young
Taft Law*
Thompson Coburn*
Thompson Hine
Troutman Pepper*
Tucker Ellis*
Vinson & Elkins
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease
White & Case*
Williams & Connolly
WilmerHale*
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati*
Winston & Strawn*
Womble Bond Dickinson

Congratulations to all of the firms that made the list during these unprecedented times. We look forward to seeing even more Mansfield-certified firms next year.

For the First Time, All of Mansfield Program’s Law Firms Achieve Certification [American Lawyer]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sponsored

Topics

, , , , ,