Mansfield Rule: Legal Department 2.0 Edition
Mansfield Rule for Legal Departments Launches 2.0 Cohort to Continue Boosting Diversity in Leadership and Outside Counsel Ranks
This new version of the Mansfield Rule, which initially launched with law firms four years ago, measures whether legal departments have affirmatively considered women, LGBTQ+, lawyers with disabilities, and racial/ethnic minority lawyers — at least 50% of the candidate pool — for the legal department’s top roles and for outside counsel representation.
For the 2.0 version, the certification period has been extended from one to two years to allow for additional hiring and other activities needed to successfully implement the Mansfield Rule in a legal department setting. And although tracking of candidate pools for all activities has always been required, the 2.0 version also asks that legal departments track on a disaggregated basis (i.e., women, racial and ethnic minorities, lawyers with disabilities, and LGBTQ+).
The press release announcing the legal departments certified as part of the 1.0 pilot and those joining 2.0 can be found here.
If your legal department is interested in learning more or joining future cohorts, please contact Sajani Granquist (sajani@diversitylab.com).
How It Works
To be Mansfield Certified, legal departments are asked to consider at least 50% historically underrepresented lawyers for 70% or more of the leadership roles and activities identified below.
- External hiring and/or promotions for top role(s)
- External hiring, internal transitions, and/or promotions for senior-tier management
- External hiring, internal transitions, and/or promotions for mid-tier management
- External hiring, internal transitions, and/or promotions for other lawyer positions
- Hiring for interns or temporary lawyer positions
- Discretionary high visibility opportunities that provide skills building and exposure to internal and external business leaders
- Written and transparent job responsibilities for all senior and mid-tier management roles
- Written and transparent processes for advancement opportunities and promotions within the legal department
- Hiring new outside counsel for new or existing matters
For example, if department leaders have identified a short list of five candidates for filling an open senior-tier management position, under the Mansfield Rule guidelines, three of the candidates would need to be historically underrepresented lawyers to count toward Mansfield Certification.
The Goal
The overall goal of the Mansfield Rule: Legal Department Edition is to increase the representation of diverse lawyers in leadership by broadening the pool of women, LGBTQ+ lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, and/or racial/ethnic minority lawyers who are considered for legal department job openings, high visibility opportunities and promotions, and outside counsel representation.
If your legal department is interested in learning more or joining future cohorts, please contact Sajani Granquist (sajani@diversitylab.com)
For all other questions, please contact Valerie Portillo at valerie@diversitylab.com with questions.