Faegre Drinker Achieves Mansfield 5.0 Certification Plus Status for Commitment to Diversity in Leadership
Faegre Drinker is proud to be recognized by Diversity Lab as a Mansfield Certified Plus firm – one of the “trailblazing law firms” that demonstrated meaningful progress in creating diverse leadership teams, which will help create the systemic changes necessary to foster long-term inclusion and equity in the workplace.
Diversity Lab identified 165 firms as “Mansfield 5.0 Certified” for affirmatively considering at least 30 percent women, lawyers from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, lawyers with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ lawyers for top leadership roles, senior-level lateral hiring, promotions into the equity partnership, and participation in client pitch meetings. These firms were also required to track their candidate pools in a disaggregated manner – including an option for Middle Eastern/North African identity – and consider at least 30 percent underrepresented lawyers for nominations to Chambers USA and 30 percent underrepresented individuals when hiring and promoting C-level or other senior-level professional staff roles.
Faegre Drinker was also one of 108 firms nationwide to receive the “Plus” certification, not only for meeting the pipeline requirements, but also for successfully reaching at least 30 percent representation in a notable number of current leadership roles.
The Mansfield Rule was one of the winning ideas from the 2016 Women in Law Hackathon hosted by Diversity Lab. Modeled after the National Football League’s revolutionary Rooney Rule, the Mansfield Rule measures the diversity of consideration pools for leadership positions in law firms. The Rule’s elements and operations are grounded in behavioral science research, including the 30 percent requirement, which researchers have found is the critical mass necessary to disrupt biases.
Faegre Drinker holds itself accountable for making progress to diversify the legal profession and build a diverse workforce. The firm has participated in the Mansfield Rule since its inception in 2017 and is taking part in Mansfield 6.0, which runs through 2023. Faegre Drinker is also consistently recognized as a ‘Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality’ by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, most recently receiving that recognition in the 2022 Corporate Equality Index. In November 2021, the firm signed on to Diversity Lab’s ‘OnRamp200,’ a new OnRamp Fellowship initiative aimed at bringing 200 women lawyers who have taken extended career hiatuses back into the legal profession by 2025.
About Diversity Lab
Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. Experimental ideas are created through our Hackathons and piloted in collaboration with more than 150 top law firms and legal departments across the country. Diversity Lab leverages data, behavioral science, design thinking, and technology to further develop and test new ideas and research, measure the results, and share the lessons learned. For more information, visit www.diversitylab.com.