**Read open letters from the Mansfield Certified U.S. & Canadian Firms, UK Firms, and Legal Departments.**

The Purpose

The goal of the Mansfield Rule is to boost and sustain diversity in leadership through three main pillars.

1. Shifting cultures and mindsets through data tracking, advancement process transparency, and considering a broad slate of 30-50% underrepresented talent for all leadership roles and the activities that lead to leadership;
2. Sharing knowledge to work together, learn together, and succeed together as a community; and
3. Increasing the marketplace visibility and economic power of underrepresented talent through Mansfield Client Forums, Diverse Partners Directory, and more.

Science-Based Methods

Mansfield’s methods are grounded in behavioral science, including the 30-50% consideration requirement, which researchers show achieves the critical mass in leadership necessary to disrupt biases. The structural elements of the certification process are key to this effort, including: the accountability through frequent check-ins/audits, data collection, and reporting; the participants’ ongoing collaboration through monthly group knowledge sharing forums; and the transparency of publicly certifying.

Diversity Lab works with participants to measure the outcomes and iterate the requirements to push boundaries every year. And to ensure Mansfield’s long-term results, there is an increasingly challenging “Certification Plus” category that evaluates whether firms and legal departments have achieved diversity in leadership, not just considered it. 

Early Results

Early outcomes – as noted in this Bloomberg article and American Lawyer article – show Mansfield is working at its intended purpose to diversify leadership. As demonstrated by the US and UK certified firm leaders’ own words (here and here), their management and diversity experts have worked really hard to push for and achieve these meaningful results. Together, we are moving the needle. And while the outcomes are promising, there is more to be done.

Evolution & Participating Organizations

The Mansfield Rule, inspired by a winning idea at the Women in Law Hackathon, aims to boost diversity in leadership by broadening the pool of talent through “consideration goals” – not quotas – for leadership roles. A brief overview of its evolution follows.

• When the pilot certification first launched for large law firms in 2017 with 35+ firms, the primary requirement was to consider at least 30% women lawyers and underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers for leadership roles.
• Versions 2.0 through 5.0 for large firms were intentionally broadened each year to include LGBTQ+ lawyers and lawyers with disabilities as well as critical pipeline activities (e.g., client pitch teams), transparent leadership role descriptions, and more.
• New pilots were recently launched for midsize firms, legal departments, and UK firms. 
• The current certification process requires law firms to consider at least 30% historically underrepresented lawyers – including women lawyers, underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities – when promoting or appointing to leadership roles, among a dozen other actions that focus on the path to leadership. And legal departments are asked to consider 50% diversity for top internal roles and outside counsel. 

As of 2023, there are 275+ U.S. and Canadian law firms, 15+ UK law firms, and 80+ legal departments participating in the certification process. Additional info on Mansfield’s timeline and evolution can be found here.

Click on each box below for a list of participating organizations and the certification requirements. If your organization is interested in joining these trailblazers, please contact Courtney Munnings (courtney@diversitylab.com) for law firms or Sajani Granquist (sajani@diversitylab.com) for legal departments.