Pepper Hamilton Signs on to Mansfield Rule 2.0, Committing to Advance Diversity and Inclusion in Firm Leadership
Pepper Hamilton — as part of the firm’s continued efforts to actively recruit and advance the hiring, development and promotion of diverse lawyers — has signed on to the Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule 2.0 initiative. The Mansfield Rule measures whether law firms affirmatively consider diverse lawyers for promotions, senior-level hiring and significant leadership roles in the firm.
Law firms signing on to the Mansfield Rule pledge that women or minorities will make up at least 30 percent of the candidates for lateral partner and mid-to-senior-level associate hires, partner promotions, and certain leadership or governance positions. The Mansfield Rule 2.0, launching July 16, 2018, includes LGBTQ+ lawyers in addition to the original rule’s provisions for women and attorneys of color. The latest version of the rule also measures participation in client pitch meetings and RFPs, and requires that participating law firms make appointment and election processes more transparent to all lawyers in their firms and create written job descriptions for certain positions.
The Mansfield Rule is named for Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to practice law in the United States. It was one of the winning ideas from the 2016 Women in Law Hackathon hosted by Diversity Lab in collaboration with Bloomberg Law and Stanford Law School, and was piloted in 2017.
Law firms, including Pepper, that successfully pilot the Mansfield Rule 2.0 over the next year will be designated “Mansfield Certified” and will be authorized to market themselves as such to clients and potential recruits and have the opportunity to send recently promoted diverse partners to a two-day client forum.
“We are excited to participate in the pilot of Mansfield Rule 2.0,” said Thomas J. Cole, Jr., Pepper’s Managing Partner. “Our Partner in Charge of Diversity, Kassem Lucas, and Chief Talent Officer, Margaret Suender, will be leading the firm in this initiative. We hope that this process will provide us with greater insight into our own diversity efforts, leading to more opportunities to promote and support diverse attorneys.”