Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC issued the following announcement on Aug. 20.
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney is one of 27 firms in the nation which has achieved “Mansfield Rule Certification Plus” status for 2018, following a year-long pilot program created by the Diversity Lab to boost diversity in law firm leadership. The Mansfield Rule, which was inspired by the NFL's Rooney Rule, has a direct connection to the firm’s named partner Art Rooney II, Of Counsel and Pittsburgh Steelers president. A total of 41 firms, including Buchanan, achieved Mansfield certification.
The certification verifies that Buchanan has proactively considered women and minority lawyers in at least 30 percent of the candidate pool for promotions, senior-level hiring and significant leadership roles. The Plus Status certifies that Buchanan met or exceeded the program expectations for Certification and successfully reached at least 30 percent women and minority lawyer representation in a notable number of their current leadership roles and committees.
“We are delighted to have achieved Mansfield Rule Certification Plus status and to be blazing trails with this important effort to increase diversity and inclusion in the legal industry,” said Heather Brock, Buchanan’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer. “We are a steadfast supporter of this program and have already signed on to pilot Mansfield Rule 2.0, which will further expand the program to include LGBTQ+ lawyers.”
“Diversity in law firms has been stagnant for decades, so we didn’t expect to change law firm cultures overnight,” said Lisa Kirby, Director of Research & Knowledge Sharing at Diversity Lab. “Although, as a result of the Mansfield Rule, all of the 41 Mansfield Certified firms are now tracking their candidates’ pipelines for every single path that leads to leadership. And a significant number of firms have increased the diversity of these pipelines, which is a positive step towards diversifying their next generation of leaders.”
In addition to the Mansfield Certification, Buchanan received a Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum by meeting criteria regarding the number of women among equity partners, in firm leadership positions and in the ranks of their most highly compensated partners. For the second consecutive year, the firm achieved a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmarking tool that ranks businesses on their inclusion policies.
Original source can be found here.