More than 40 Legal Departments Join the Mansfield Rule: Legal Department Edition 3.0 Cohort to Continue Boosting Diversity in Leadership and Outside Counsel Ranks

This new version of the Mansfield Rule, which initially launched in 2017 for law firms, measures whether legal departments have affirmatively considered historically underrepresented lawyers — women lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, and underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers — for the legal department’s top roles and for outside counsel leadership. The Mansfield Rule: Legal Department Edition (MRLD) launched in 2019 to apply the Rule to legal departments.

MRLD 3.0 is more challenging than previous versions; requiring that at least 20% of candidates considered for open positions are underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, and/or LGBTQ+ lawyers (in addition to requiring that at least 50% of the candidates are historically underrepresented lawyers, including women who aren’t otherwise underrepresented) for certification. MRLD 3.0 has also been expanded to require that legal departments track how high-quality work and development opportunities are allocated and both create and maintain transparent and accessible roadmaps for advancement of current team members. It further drives change within the legal industry by focusing on outside counsel leadership and economic benefactors.

MRLD 3.0 cohort members join the 50+ legal departments already working toward certification as part of Mansfield Rule: Legal Department Edition 2.0.

If your legal department is interested in learning more or joining future cohorts, please join an information session here.

See the recent press release announcing this newest cohort for more details.

How It Works

To achieve certification, legal departments must meet at least 70% of the following certification categories they engage in over the course of the two-year certification period:

Hiring and/or internal transitions: For the following activities, (a) at least 50% of the candidate pool must be historically underrepresented, (b) at least 20% of the candidate pool must consist of underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and/or lawyers with disabilities, and (c) legal departments must track the disaggregated makeup of the candidate pools by demographic identity: 

• Hiring for top legal role(s)
• Hiring and/or internal transitions of lawyers to senior-tier management positions
• Hiring and/or internal transitions of lawyers to mid-tier management positions
• Hiring and/or internal transitions of lawyers to other positions
• Hiring for interns and secondees
• Hiring and/or internal transitions of individuals for high-level professional positions that do not require a J.D. and report to the CLO, GC, or other top legal role(s)

Development opportunities: For the following activities, (a) at least 50% of the lawyers considered must be historically underrepresented, and (b) legal departments must track the disaggregated makeup of the lawyers considered by demographic identity: 

• Allocation of discretionary high-visibility opportunities and/or assignments that provide exposure to internal or external business/community leaders
• Awarding promotions based on individual growth and leadership readiness

Roadmaps for advancement: In creating or revising the following, legal departments must ensure these documents are written, clear, and transparent within the legal department:

• Job responsibilities for all senior- and mid-tier management roles
• All processes and criteria for advancement and promotions

Outside counsel leadership: Legal departments choosing outside counsel teams or firms for new matters must assess the leadership of the teams and firms considered as follows:

• When considering outside counsel teams for new matters, at least 50% of the teams considered must be led or co-led by at least one historically underrepresented lawyer and legal departments must track the leadership of outside counsel teams considered by demographic identity
• When considering outside counsel firms to include on a preferred provider panel or otherwise retain, at least 50% of the firms considered must either (1) be at least 50% owned by historically underrepresented lawyers or (2) have pledged at least 50% of the business generation or relationship credit

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, and one would need to identify as an underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyer, LGBTQ+ lawyer, and/or lawyer with disabilities 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 underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers who are considered for leadership and advancement within the legal department and for outside counsel leadership.

If your legal department is interested in learning more or joining future cohorts, please join an information session here.

For all other questions, please contact Kavita Ramakrishnan at kavita@diversitylab.com.