Brooks Kushman recently announced that it will be continuing its participation in the industry-leading Mansfield Rule for Midsize Firms program for 2023-2024. The firm is proud to have achieved Midsize Mansfield Certified Plus in the previous, inaugural cycle.
The goal of Mansfield is to boost the representation of historically underrepresented lawyers in leadership. Launched as a pilot in 2017 with 35+ inaugural U.S. large law firms and now having grown to 300+ U.S., Canada, and UK midsize and large law firms as well as 80+ legal departments, Mansfield has become the standard by which organizations track and measure that they have affirmatively considered women lawyers, underrepresented racial/ethnic lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ lawyers for top leadership roles, senior-level lateral hiring, promotions to partner, participation in client pitch meetings, and more.
In late 2020, Diversity Lab launched a new iteration of the Mansfield Rule developed for firms with 25 to 150 lawyers in the U.S. and Canada. The Mansfield Midsize Certification process, modeled after the initial large firm version, has been fine-tuned and tailored to boost diversity in leadership for firms with fewer lawyers, smaller footprints, and leaner leadership structures. To become Mansfield Midsize Certified, firms are asked to consider at least 30% historically underrepresented lawyers for the following leadership roles, activities, and more.
Brooks Kushman recognizes the essential role that diverse perspectives and experiences bring to our workplace and its ability to serve its clients. The firm knows that it is well-positioned to serve as change agents in the communities at large and take its role of leading by example seriously. Over the last decade, Brooks Kushman’s leadership has been diligent in leading by example through transparency with community organizations, surveys, and ongoing education. The firm believes things will change only with deliberate action within law firms to invest in training diverse professionals for leadership roles and providing them with high-visibility opportunities to exercise leadership.
Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. It 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. For additional details, visit www.diversitylab.com.
