Benesch Named Among Mansfield Rule Participants

Benesch is excited to announce that it has been named among more than 160 large law firms in the United States and Canada that are participating in the Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certification process launching July 15.

“Benesch is proud to take part in the Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certification process.” said Juan Morado, Jr., Benesch Partner and Co-Chair of its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee,  “This effort is in alignment with our firm’s longstanding commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and we look forward to doing better and continuing to lead in this space.”

The goal of the Mansfield Rule is to boost the representation of historically underrepresented lawyers in law firm leadership. Now entering its fifth year, the Mansfield Rule has become the standard by which law firms track and measure that they have affirmatively considered at least 30 percent 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. Margo Wolf O’Donnell, Partner and Co-Chair of Benesch’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, noted “Benesch’s participation in the Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certification demonstrates our commitment to building a diverse and inclusive team that best serves our clients now and in the future.”

Recent data shows that the Mansfield Rule is succeeding at its goal. The “early adopter” firms piloting the Mansfield Rule since its 2017 inception have increased the racial and ethnic diversity of their management committees by 30 times the rate of non-Mansfield Rulefirms. Similar to previous years, this iteration of the Mansfield Rule includes new challenges to continuously push the boundaries necessary to boost diversity in law firm leadership. New for Mansfield 5.0, firms are required to:

• Track their 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 percent 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 percent underrepresented individuals when hiring and promoting C-level or other senior-level professional staff roles.

To learn more about the Mansfield Rule 5.0 program, click here.