Following a successful first year participating in Mansfield Rule 4.0, Tucker Ellis has joined more than 160 large law firms in participating in the Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certification process launching July 15. Administered by Diversity Lab, the Mansfield Rule 5.0 expansion includes 49 new law firms and a new pilot in the UK with more than 10 leading law firms.

Now entering its fifth year, the Mansfield Rule continuously pushes the boundaries necessary to boost diversity in law firm leadership. It has become the standard by which law firms track and measure that they have affirmatively considered at least 30% women, lawyers from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, lawyers with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ lawyers for top leadership roles, senior-level lateral hiring, promotions into the equity partnership, and participation in client pitch meetings.

According to a press release issued by Diversity Lab, this iteration of the Mansfield Rule includes the previous requirements and additionally requires law firms to:

• Track candidate pools in a disaggregated manner, prompting them to measure the impact of the Mansfield Rule by each underrepresented group. Firms must also include an option for Middle Eastern/North African identity, a demographic often overlooked by current self-identification options;
• Consider at least 30% underrepresented lawyers for nominations to Chambers USA to increase the external visibility of underrepresented lawyers with clients and in the marketplace more broadly; and
• Consider 30% underrepresented individuals when hiring and promoting C-level or other senior-level professional staff roles.

In addition to these requirements, law firms in pursuit of Mansfield Certification Plus – indicating that they have not only considered but achieved 30% representation of underrepresented lawyers in many of the Mansfield Rule categories – will be asked to increase the transparency of their partner compensation criteria and processes by publishing and making them available to all of the firm’s lawyers.

“Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion both within our firm and within our communities is an important and ever-evolving goal for us,” said Tucker Ellis Managing Partner Joe Morford. “Joining Mansfield Rule 4.0 one year ago set practical and helpful benchmarks that allowed us to track and measure our progress. We’re looking forward to meeting these challenging new goals as we move forward with Mansfield Rule 5.0, and, as always, aspire to become a model for other firms.”

About Diversity Lab

Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. Experimental ideas are created through its Hackathons and piloted in collaboration with more than 150 top law firms and legal departments across the country. Diversity Lab leverages data, behavioral science, design thinking, and technology to further develop and test new ideas and research, measure the results, and share the lessons learned. To learn more, click here.