Womble Carlyle has received national recognition for integrating women into the highest levels of firm leadership.

Womble Carlyle has been named a 2015 Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) Gold Standard Firm. In order to earn this honor, firms must meet objective criteria proving “that a significant number of women have attained the highest leadership levels in the firm.”

Specifically, Womble Carlyle demonstrated that women partners comprise at least:

  • 20% of the firm’s primary governance committee
  • 20% of the firm’s compensation committee or its equivalent
  • 25% of the firm’s practice group leaders and/or department heads
  • 10% of the top half of the firm’s equity partners in terms of compensation

Women serve in key roles and in many of the top leadership positions within the firm, 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 will become the firm’s Chair and Managing Partner on January 1, 2016.

Womble Carlyle has a formal leadership development program, “Leadership Womble” and, specifically, a “Women of Womble” leadership initiative which was launched in 2006 to offer young women lawyers leadership and client development opportunities. The initiative’s explicit goal is to help women lawyers to advance within the firm and in the profession. The firm also has a strong contingent of high performing, successful female partners who mentor and develop young talent, regardless of gender.

“We believe that our clients benefit when opportunities to succeed at our firm are available to all,” said Womble Carlyle partner Ellen Gregg, the leader of the firm’s Case Management Facility and Chair of the Professionalism Committee. “While we have more work to do, the WILEF Gold Standard is a nice acknowledgement that we have made significant strides in promoting equal access for women.”

WILEF is dedicated to assisting women in law to assume leadership roles within the National Law Journal 250 law firms, in Fortune 1000 legal departments and in their respective communities. WILEF presents cutting edge programming that provides an educational and networking forum for women in law and women law school students.

About Womble Carlyle

Womble Carlyle is a 550-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.

Thanks to Womble Carlyle’s partnership with Lex Mundi, the world’s largest association of independent law firms, we 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, SC; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, NC; Silicon Valley, California, Washington, DC; Tysons Corner, VA; Baltimore; Wilmington; Delaware.