Written by: Dylan Jackson

All 118 law firms in the latest round of Diversity Lab’s Mansfield program have achieved certification—a first for the four-year-old program.

The full certification comes in a year where the organization was worried that the pandemic would discourage law firms from committing the resources required to participate.

“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. We are enormously proud to work with such a committed group of firms,” said Natalia Marulanda, Mansfield Rule director at Diversity Lab.

Law firms that participated in the program needed to show that they had affirmatively considered at least 30% women, underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, LGBTQ+ lawyers and lawyers with disabilities for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities and senior lateral positions.

In each annual iteration, Diversity Lab adds another requirement to its certification process. For this round, 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, in addition to the requirement these lawyers make up 30% of notable leadership roles.

Of the 118 firms, 92 achieved Mansfield Plus certification.

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