Clark Hill Achieves Mansfield Rule Plus Certification for Expanding Diversity in Firm Leadership

Diversity Lab announced today that Clark Hill has achieved Mansfield Rule Plus Certification for 2022-23 in recognition of the firm’s efforts to increase diversity in firm leadership roles. Diversity Lab is an incubator focused on boosting diversity and inclusion in the legal industry.

“We are proud of the firm’s accomplishment in reaching Mansfield Certification for the second time, and we’re especially pleased to receive Plus recognition for this year,” said John Hensien, Clark Hill CEO. “This is a notable industry recognition of our successful strategy to advance diversity across the firm’s leadership. As a firm, we value diverse perspectives across all levels of the firm’s leadership and across client teams.”

Mansfield Rule Certification requires that law firms consider at least 30% historically underrepresented lawyers, including women lawyers, underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions.

Mansfield Certification Plus designates firms that have voluntarily measured the outcomes of their inclusive processes and have achieved positive results.

“Achieving Mansfield Certification reflects our collective efforts to move the needle toward a more diverse workplace,” said Linda Watson, co-chair of Clark Hill’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee. “In recent years, we’ve launched initiatives and created new internal protocols to advance our goals. We’re focused on increasing the representation of historically underrepresented lawyers in firm management and leadership.”

Diversity Lab indicated that prior to joining Mansfield, less than one-quarter of participating firms tracked the makeup of their leadership talent pipelines and less than one-half had written and transparent job descriptions for leadership roles or advancement processes. Participating firms are now diversifying their leadership at approximately double the rate of non-Mansfield firms.