Womble Carlyle Honored by Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) as an Industry Leader for Women in Top Firm Roles

For the second time, Womble Carlyle has been honored for integrating women into top leadership positions within the firm.

The Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) has named Womble Carlyle a 2017 Gold Standard Firm. In order to earn this honor, firms must “meet objective criteria concerning the number of women among equity partners, in firm leadership positions, and in the ranks of their most highly compensated partners.”

Certification is awarded to firms that meet at least four of the following seven criteria:

• 20 percent of U.S. equity partners or, alternatively, one-third of attorneys who became U.S. equity partners within the previous 12 months, are women
• 15 percent of the heads of the firm and its U.S. branch office heads combined are women
• 20 percent of the members of the firm’s primary governance committee are women
• 20 percent of the members of the committee that determines equity partner compensation are women
• 25 percent of U.S. practice group leaders/department heads are women
• 15 percent of the top half of U.S. equity partners in terms of compensation are women
• 7 percent of U.S. women equity partners are women of color and/or 3.5 percent of them are LGBT.

Womble Carlyle was one of only 44 law firms nationally to earn WILEF Gold Standard Firm status in 2017.

Libby McGarry, Chair of WILEF’s Certification Committee, said, “In order to maintain their status as leaders in this area, firms must continue making progress. That is why the criteria for certification have become more stringent over the years.”

Women serve in key roles and in many of the top leadership positions at Womble Carlyle, including serving on the Firm Management Committee and Executive Committee, as Office Managing Partners, Department Heads, Practice Group and Team Leaders, and Chairs of Key Firm Committees. 

In addition, Betty Temple became the firm’s Chair and Managing Partner on Jan. 1, 2016.

Womble Carlyle also supports Women of Womble (WOW), a leadership initiative aimed at promoting and supporting women lawyers—both within the firm and beyond. WOW is committed to helping women succeed in their professional development, promotion to partnership, business development and leadership opportunities.

About Womble Carlyle

Womble Carlyle is a 500+-attorney law firm that corporate clients rely on to provide core legal services, such as Complex Business Litigation, Mass Torts, Intellectual Property, Corporate & Securities, Finance and Real Estate.

Our focus is the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Silicon Valley markets, and from this footprint, we serve clients in matters across the country and across the world. Clients trust us because we understand their businesses, focus on their successes, demonstrate a commitment to help, and deliver value for their dollars they spend on us. 

Womble Carlyle has a transatlantic alliance with leading UK firm Bond Dickinson to provide clients with domestic legal, regulatory and business advice in both the US and UK Thanks to Womble Carlyle’s alliance with Lex Mundi, the world’s largest association of independent law firms, we also can offer clients access to quality-tested local counsel in more than 120 countries. Lex Mundi provides seamless access to local attorneys and market knowledge throughout the globe.

Womble Carlyle’s offices are located in: Atlanta; Charleston, Columbia and Greenville, S.C.; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Silicon Valley, Calif., Washington, D.C.; Charlottesville and Tysons Corner, Va.; Baltimore; and Wilmington, Del.

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