Dykema, a leading national law firm, announced today that the firm has achieved Mansfield 7.0 certification as well as Mansfield Certification Plus status after completing the 12-month certification process in collaboration with Diversity Lab. This marks the third consecutive year that Dykema has achieved Certification Plus status—the highest standing possible—in as many times participating in the certification process.
Launched in 2017, the Mansfield Rule is a year-long structured certification process designed to ensure all qualified talent at participating law firms have a fair and equal opportunity to be considered for advancement into leadership roles. The focus is on “opening the door wider” and ensuring that opportunities for advancement are transparent and inclusive for everyone. Mansfield expands opportunities, fostering growth without imposing limitations.
To achieve certification, law firms must implement a behavioral science and data-driven approach—designed by Diversity Lab in collaboration with talent experts, data scientists, and lawyers—to help increase diversity in leadership. Focused on opening the door wider and ensuring that opportunities are inclusive, certified firms considered broad slates of qualified talent for leadership roles that included at least 30% historically underrepresented lawyers—such as women lawyers, underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities.
The increasingly difficult “Certification Plus” status signifies that a firm has gone beyond just consideration and has actually achieved greater diversity in a notable number of its current leadership roles.
Since joining the Mansfield cohort of firms in 2021, Dykema has worked to increase the transparency and accessibility of our advancement procedure and to open the door wider to ensure that all talent at the firm has a transparent, fair, and equal opportunity to be considered for leadership roles and activities. According to Diversity Lab’s official press release, “This accomplishment… underscores these firms’ steadfast dedication to promoting inclusive and equitable workplaces.”
Announced in August, Dykema will continue to embrace equity in leadership opportunities by renewing its participation in the Mansfield Rule certification process, joining more than 360 large and midsize firms from the U.S., UK, and Canada seeking Mansfield 8.0 certification, a process that runs from July 2024 to June 2025.
Original source can be found here.