An Open Letter From the 2020-2022

Mansfield Legal Department Leaders

We, the leaders of 40+ legal departments, are proud to announce that we have achieved Mansfield Certification as a result of our work on the Mansfield Rule: Legal Department Edition (“MRLD”) 2.0. Through this rigorous process, we have taken intentional actions to boost and sustain the diversity of our legal department leadership and outside counsel teams, and we pledge to continue this important work. 

We are dedicated to making the legal profession more inclusive and equitable by expanding the talent pools considered for our senior leadership positions, internal high-visibility career development opportunities, and outside counsel lead roles. We are also committed to ensuring our advancement processes are transparent and accessible. These Mansfield criteria support our collective effort to create sustainable change within the legal profession by focusing on significant internal and external opportunities. 

We call upon our peers to join us in advancing DEI in legal department leadership across industries by adhering to Mansfield’s behavioral science and data-driven certification process. The results and positive impact on our legal departments and in the profession are undeniable. 

Some of our legal departments’ related accomplishments follow. We look forward to the road ahead.

Highlighted Individual Legal Department Outcomes

“At Accenture we know that our commitment to inclusion, diversity and equality unleashes innovation, and underpins a culture in which everyone feels they have an equal opportunity to feel they belong, advance and thrive. We share in Diversity Lab’s mission and embrace the Mansfield Rule’s focus on accountability and transparency, which we believe builds trust and will help increase diversity in the legal profession.” Joel Unruch | General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Accenture

“The Mansfield Certification program has been a wonderful value-add to Axiom’s ongoing commitment to DEI. It not only helps us document and address the diversity of our legal department, but it provides a framework that enables greater collaboration with many of our clients in advancing their own DEI goals. It’s empowered all of us to engage more deeply on transforming and advancing DEI in the legal industry.” Catherine Kemnitz | Chief Legal Officer | Axiom Global Inc.

“BASF is strongly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and has been at the forefront in advancing measurable change within the profession for several years. We are proud to have achieved Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Certification Plus status again this year. We strive to continually further our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and are proud to see the success of those efforts reflected in leadership roles in our in-house legal department and also externally with the law firms who represent BASF.” Karen Killeen | Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer North America | BASF Corporation

“Bloomberg’s Legal & Compliance Department is deeply committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. We’re honored to support Diversity Lab on its Move the Needle Fund and MRLD initiatives, and we are thrilled to have achieved Mansfield Certification as part of the MRLD 2.0 cohort. The practical tips about tracking the diversity of our legal department and transparency, which we learned through the Mansfield certification program’s knowledge sharing sessions and resource library, have helped us refine our recruiting, advancement, and outside counsel engagement practices. We will continue building upon our progress as part of the MRLD 3.0 cohort, and look forward to continuing our work with Diversity Lab to advance the Mansfield Rule’s mission.” David Levine | Chief Legal Officer | Bloomberg, L.P.

“The proactive steps encouraged by the certification process produced undeniable results. Over the course of the certification program, the percentage of attorneys from underrepresented groups (including women) engaged to represent us as outside counsel increased from 34% to 80% and the percentage of attorneys engaged as outside counsel that identify as racial or ethnic minorities increased from 5% to 17%.” Kelly Lefferts | Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary | Bloomin’ Brands

“Mansfield Rule Certification affirms Booz Allen’s commitment to recruiting, retaining and advancing diverse legal leaders who will bring new innovation and insight to our business and clients.” Nancy Laben | Chief Legal Officer | Booz Allen Hamilton

“Representation matters, and MRLD 2.0 has helped build and elevate Booz Allen’s diverse legal talent pipeline across all levels.” Josh Petty | General Counsel | Booz Allen Hamilton

“At Chime, DEI is important not only to our legal department but also to our entire company. MRLD has been an incredible opportunity to track our progress against our goals and hold both ourselves and our outside counsel accountable. It provides the tools, structure, and insights to continuously re-commit to our values and has resulted in not just positive diversity outcomes, but positive and inclusive practices that advance our culture overall. We are thrilled to have obtained 2.0 certification and are ready to push ourselves to achieve 3.0 certification as part of the dedicated community of companies committed to the importance of this work.” Kate Karas | General Counsel | Chime

“The City of Austin Law Department is honored to have achieved Mansfield 2.0 certification.  The process helped us identify areas where we are doing well, but more importantly, it highlighted areas for improvement and provided the tools to get us to our goal.  We look forward to rolling up our sleeves and working to meet the criteria for the next level of certification.” Deborah Thomas | Deputy City Attorney | City of Austin Law Department

“We worked hard for this—and it was worth it. To boost diversity in legal leadership, everyone has to commit, and the Mansfield Rule certification process kept us accountable to that commitment while helping us formalize our existing process. It also aligned with what Eaton aims to do which is to become a model of inclusion and diversity in our industry. We’re now even closer to our aim, with a stronger strategy for attracting historically underrepresented legal talent.” Terry Szmagala | Chief Legal Officer | Eaton

“HP’s participation in the Mansfield Rule for Legal Departments 2.0 initiative brought a trackable rigor to our internal diversification focus. Given the demands that we make of our outside counsel to field diverse teams on HP matters, it was critically important to impose similar accountability on ourselves. Furthermore, being part of this community with like-minded companies allowed us to learn from different perspectives and share best practices while at the same time bringing our own unique perspective.  We very much look forward to continuing this journey through MRLD 3.0.” Julie Jacobs | Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel | HP Inc.

“Lincoln Financial has a solid diversity, equity and inclusion foundation, with aspirations to increase our minority representation in all areas of our company. The Mansfield Certification helps the Legal Department take these efforts one step further. The reporting rigor of the Mansfield Certification process has prompted more regular reflection on our progress toward meeting our DEI goals, both internally and externally. We have benefited from the consistent focus on diversity, equity and inclusion that the Mansfield Certification process brings to our Legal department.” Craig Beazer | General Counsel | Lincoln Financial Group

“We’re proud that McDonald’s Legal Department has achieved Mansfield Rule Certification Plus – a leading example of the action needed to accelerate change within the legal industry. Building DE&I into the way our Legal Team operates and in our partnerships has enabled us to recruit more equitably and foster a more diverse pipeline of talent. While we’re excited about this progress,  we look forward to continuing this work and the continued accountability and rigor this rule brings.” Desiree Ralls-Morrison | Executive Vice President, Global Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary | McDonald’s Corporation 

 “Our diversity initiatives, including successful efforts to recruit new lawyers and interns and to increase awareness of the importance of diversity in all decisions made in the legal department, have been greatly enhanced by our participation in the Mansfield Rule program.”Jorge Lopez, Jr. | Executive Vice President and General Counsel | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

“Micron’s Mansfield Rule certification led to significant and intentional advancements in our consideration and hiring of diverse and underrepresented individuals to fill important roles on the legal team and to serve as outside counsel on critical matters. Micron recognizes that diverse teams lead to better results, and we are committed to continuing to lead by example both in the legal team and across the company.” Rob Beard | SVP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary | Micron Technology, Inc.

“We are delighted to have achieved Mansfield Rule Plus certification. Millicom is deeply committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. Mansfield Rule has given our Legal team an actionable and measurable means to promote diversity in our profession and to demonstrate to our external counsel the importance of this effort to our team and our company.” Salvador Escalon | Executive VP and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer | Millicom International

“PayPal has been a champion and participant of the Mansfield program for three years.  Diversity and inclusion is a core value of PayPal we strive to live every day.  PayPal is committed to advocating for equity and belonging amongst our employees and law firm partners.  Being a part of Mansfield 2.0 has created a process and framework to implement our core values through evaluating and hiring top diverse talent both within the legal department and our law firm partners.” Bimal Patel | Senior Vice President and General Counsel | PayPal, Inc.

“The Pfizer Legal Division is committed to creating a culture of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.  We want all colleagues to feel included, be treated equitably, contribute fully, and develop professionally.  The Mansfield certification process helps us advance these important objectives, share best practices, and learn from other leading legal departments.” Doug Lankler | Executive Vice President and General Counsel | Pfizer Inc.

“The Mansfield Certification program provided our legal team with a structured and approachable way to evaluate and analyze our outside counsel spend and internal lawyer hiring in a way that yielded significant increase in lawyer diversity.  This program provided us with a framework for turning Scoular’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal industry into actionable and tangible outcomes.” Megan Belcher | Chief Legal & External Affairs Officer | The Scoular Company

“Our inclusive culture is what binds us together. We can make the most of the diverse insights and abilities of our people that underpin our important work when we have the best and most diverse talent and leadership. That’s why I was pleased to support participation in the Mansfield certification process at Teva and even prouder that our legal and HR colleagues have embraced these goals with intention to help us reach our diversity goals. We’re grateful to join our colleagues in the legal industry in serving as a catalyst for meaningful change and new career opportunities.” David Stark | Chief Legal Officer | Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.

“We continue to reap many benefits from MRLD 2.0, including in how we hire and develop our legal professionals. It’s also prompted us to think differently about the outside counsel teams that best represent our values and serve our needs. As a result, we’ve meaningfully increased the diversity of our representation and also deepened our relationships with law firms who share our commitment to DEI.” Jim Chosy | Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel | U.S. Bank

“By collaborating with other firms and law departments in Mansfield, US Foods has gained valuable knowledge and insights. Most importantly, it has helped us hold ourselves and our outside counsel partners accountable as we strive towards a more inclusive legal community.” Kristin Coleman | General Counsel | US Foods

Signed,

Legal Department Leadership
On Behalf of the Mansfield 2.0 Certified Legal Departments

Accenture*	McDonald’s Corporation*
Axiom Global Inc.*	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center*
BASF Corporation*	Micron Technology, Inc.
Bloomberg L.P.*	Millicom International
Bloomin’ Brands*	Momentive Inc.*
Booz Allen Hamilton	PayPal, Inc.
Chime*	Pfizer Inc.
City of Austin Law Department*	Planet Labs PBC
City of Philadelphia Law Department	St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Inc.
CN*	Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.*
Curia Global, Inc.	The Scoular Company*
DaVita Inc.*	The University of Texas System*
Delta Dental of California*	Turo Inc.
Discover Financial Services*	Twilio Inc.
Eaton*	U.S. Bank*
F.N.B. Corporation*	Uber Technologies, Inc.
Ford Motor Company	Union Pacific Railroad Company*
Gap Inc.*	US Foods*
HP Inc.*	Voya Financial*
Lincoln Financial Group*	Zendesk*
MassMutual

 

*Legal departments renewing participation in 2022-2023 – The organizations listed above with an asterisk are continuing their Mansfield participation along with these 40+ legal departments that started their Mansfield journey last year.  

Certified Plus Legal Departments (in italics) – MRLD Certification Plus status indicates that, in addition to meeting or exceeding the baseline certification requirements, the organization has successfully achieved at least 50% underrepresented lawyer representation in a notable number of their current leadership roles.