Seyfarth Earns Mansfield 3.0 Certification Plus from Diversity Lab

Seyfarth announced today that it has again earned Mansfield Certification Plus from Diversity Lab after completing the Mansfield Rule 3.0 12-month certification program.

The Mansfield Rule certification measures whether law firms have affirmatively considered women, attorneys of color, LGBTQ+ attorneys, and attorneys with disabilities -- at least 30 percent of the candidate pool -- for recruitment, governance roles, equity partner promotions, and inclusion in formal pitch presentations to clients. The “Plus” status indicates that, in addition to meeting or exceeding the baseline requirements, Seyfarth has successfully reached at least 30 percent diverse lawyer representation in a notable number of its current leadership roles.

Mansfield Rule 3.0, the next iteration of the Rule, launched July 2019 and included lawyers with disabilities as well as women, lawyers of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyers as part of the diverse candidate pool. Prior to successfully finishing the 2.0 iteration in 2019, Seyfarth completed the inaugural one-year Mansfield Rule pilot in 2018 and earned Mansfield Certification ‘Plus’ rating from Diversity Lab.

Named after Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to the practice of law in the United States, the Mansfield Rule is a variation of the NFL’s “Rooney Rule.” The goal of the Mansfield Rule is to boost the representation of diverse lawyers in law firm leadership by broadening the pool of candidates considered for these opportunities.

“We are extremely proud to earn Mansfield Certification Plus this year and to complete all three versions of this important program,” said Kori S. Carew, Esq., Seyfarth’s chief inclusion & diversity officer. “Seyfarth has wholly invested in pioneering initiatives that produce a more inclusive and diverse community of legal professionals. As a team, we are encouraged by this recognition and remain committed to leading the industry by our example.”

As part of Seyfarth’s commitment to inclusion and diversity and its focus on continuous improvement in this area, the firm announced in July that it has agreed to participate in the 4.0 iteration of the Mansfield Rule, which runs from July 2020 to July 2021. 

A recognized industry leader in law firm inclusion and diversity, Seyfarth recently launched The Belonging Project, a first-of-its-kind nationwide collaborative initiative to proactively combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on inclusion and diversity in the legal profession. Notably, the firm launched its own “Rooney Presumption” initiative in 2016 which, inspired by the NFL, has helped improve the hiring of diverse candidates across the firm. Within its inaugural year, Seyfarth nearly doubled the number of new minority associates in its Labor & Employment department. Today, over 40 percent of Seyfarth’s executive committee and department leadership are women.

The Mansfield Rule was one of the winning ideas from the 2016 Women in Law Hackathon hosted by Diversity Lab in collaboration with Bloomberg Law and Stanford Law School. Diversity Lab creates and experiments with innovative ways to close the gender gap and boost diversity in law firms and legal departments by leveraging data, behavioral science, and design thinking. To learn more about Mansfield 3.0 Certification click here.