Faegre Drinker Signs on to Participate in Mansfield Rule 6.0

Faegre Drinker is proud to join more than 180 large law firms in the U.S. and Canada that have signed on to participate in Diversity Lab’s Mansfield 6.0 Certification process, which runs July 2022–23. The firm, which most recently took part in Mansfield Rule 5.0, has participated in the Mansfield Rule since it began in 2017 and we have received both Certification and Certification Plus achievements from Diversity Lab every year since Mansfield Rule’s inception.

The goal of the Mansfield Rule is to boost the representation of historically underrepresented attorneys in law firm leadership. Now entering its sixth year, the Mansfield Rule has become the standard by which law firms track and measure that they have affirmatively considered at least 30% women, attorneys from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, attorneys with disabilities and LGBTQ+ attorneys for top leadership roles, senior-level lateral hiring, promotions into the equity partnership and participation in client pitch meetings.

The Mansfield certification evolves every year to push the boundaries necessary to boost diversity in law firm leadership. New for Mansfield 6.0, firms are required to consider at least 30% historically underrepresented attorneys from all four groups — women, attorneys from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, LGBTQ+ attorneys and attorneys with disabilities — when appointing to leadership roles and promoting into the equity partnership.

In addition, law firms must also consider 30% underrepresented talent for C-suite roles, participate in monthly knowledge-sharing forums, create and publish job descriptions for leadership roles and meet routine check-in, data collection and reporting milestones.

To ensure Mansfield’s long-term results, law firms pursuing Mansfield Certified Plus must demonstrate achieved diversity in leadership and provide transparency of their partner compensation criteria and processes by publishing and making them available to all attorneys in the firm.

Faegre Drinker holds itself accountable for making progress to diversify the legal profession and build a diverse workforce. The firm is 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.

For more information about Mansfield Rule 6.0, read Diversity Lab’s press release.