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Inclusion and anti-racism efforts are even more important today than ever. With that in mind, Womble Bond Dickinson will continue its participation in the Mansfield Rule project, a legal industry initiative to promote greater law firm diversity by using objective hiring and promotions metrics.
In addition to taking part in Mansfield 4.0, Womble Bond Dickinson reported its results of participation in Mansfield 3.0 and is proud to announce that the firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus for 2020. Womble Bond Dickinson began its participation in 2018 as part of the Mansfield 2.0 cohort and earned Mansfield Certification for 2019.
“We strongly support the Mansfield Rule’s goals to make the legal industry more inclusive and diverse, and we believe their data-driven methodology is the right approach to achieve these goals,” said Womble Bond Dickinson Chair & CEO Betty Temple. “We saw significant and encouraging gains in Mansfield 3.0, and we welcome the accountability that Mansfield 4.0 will demand of us.”
The goal of the program is to ensure that at least 30 percent of the candidate pool for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions consists of women, lawyers of color, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities. Participating firms collect and report this data to the Diversity Lab, which administers the Mansfield Rule. For Mansfield 3.0, Womble Bond Dickinson improved in nearly all of these measured categories, with one category remaining unchanged and none dropping from Mansfield 2.0. The project also provides opportunities for firms to learn collaboratively and share best practices related to promoting diversity and inclusion.
In addition to receiving the 3.0 Certification, Womble Bond Dickinson is being recognized as a Certified Plus firm for 2020. Certified firms that achieve the goal of 30% or more historically underrepresented lawyers in 70% or more of their current leadership positions.
The number of law firms participating in this project has grown from 42 in the first cohort to 117 in Mansfield 4.0. Results from Mansfield 4.0 will be reported in the summer of 2021.
