Arnstein and Lehr LLP issued the following announcement on Sept. 3.
Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr (SEA&L) is proud to announce that it has achieved Mansfield Plus Certification for 2019 following the firm's successful implementation of Mansfield Rule 2.0.
This certification is awarded by the Diversity Lab, an incubator for innovation focused on boosting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Mansfield Plus Certification means that SEA&L considered at least 30 percent women, racially and ethnically diverse, and LGBTQ+ lawyers for significant leadership roles, lateral openings, inclusion on pitch teams, and promotions over the past year, and met this benchmark in a notable number of categories.
"While our firm long has had a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, we appreciate the framework that the Mansfield initiative provides as a way to remind us to consistently and consciously consider diversity and inclusion when making these important decisions," said the firm's Managing Partner Barry F. Levin. "We also hope our decision to seek, and our success in receiving this certification, reinforces the commitment we make to our clients to build diverse and inclusive client service teams to handle their work."
A total of 64 firms in the United States are Mansfield 2.0 Certified and, of those, 51 received the Plus status.
SEA&L will build on this effort by participating in Mansfield Rule 3.0 over the next year. Mansfield 3.0 adds lawyers with disabilities to the 30-percent benchmark goal for considering what the Rule classifies as “historically underrepresented lawyers” for significant leadership roles, lateral openings, inclusion on pitch teams and promotions.
The Mansfield Rule was the winning idea in the Diversity Lab’s 2016 Women in Law Hackathon, a pitch competition in the style of "Shark Tank" where private practice and in-house lawyers developed ideas for innovations in diversity and inclusion.
Original source can be found here.