Trending news
Nutter Commits to Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certification Process
Print PDFNutter is pleased to announce its participation in the Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule 6.0 certification process aimed at diversifying leadership. The parameters have expanded in scope and increased in rigor since its initial launch five years ago.
When Diversity Lab first launched the pilot certification, the primary requirement was to consider at least 30% women lawyers and underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers for leadership roles. Versions 2.0 through 5.0 were steadily broadened each year to include LGBTQ+ lawyers and lawyers with disabilities as well as critical pipeline activities (e.g., pitch teams, senior-level lateral hiring), transparent leadership role descriptions, and more.
The 6.0 version requires law firms to consider at least 30% historically underrepresented lawyers from all four groups when appointing to leadership roles and promoting into the equity partnership, among a dozen other activities that focus on the path to leadership. Firms must also consider 30% underrepresented talent for C-suite roles. Firms are asked to share lessons learned with each other through monthly knowledge sharing forums. They must create and publish job descriptions for leadership roles, and continue to meet routine check-in, data-collection, and reporting milestones.
Nutter’s diversity efforts are led by its Chief Talent and Equity Officer Kristin Leary and its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, which is co-chaired by Partners Ian Roffman and Johanna Wise Sullivan, and comprised of members of the firm’s Executive, Legal Personnel, and Hiring Committees. The EDI Committee establishes firm-wide strategy related to equity, diversity, and inclusion and directs the work of numerous subcommittees that create and implement initiatives promoting an inclusive firm culture. Members of these subcommittees include partners, associates, and staff. In 2021, Nutter achieved Mansfield 4.0 Certification status after completing the year-long certification program, and is currently awaiting the final review of its 2022 certification submission.
The Mansfield Rule originated in the 2016 Women in Law Hackathon, which was hosted by Diversity Lab in collaboration with Bloomberg Law and Stanford Law School. Named in honor of Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to the practice of law in the United States, the initiative aims to boost diversity in the leadership ranks within the legal profession.
# # #
About Nutter
Nutter is a Boston-based law firm that provides legal counsel to industry-leading companies, early stage entrepreneurs, institutions, foundations, and families, across the country and around the world. The firm’s business and finance, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and land use, labor and employment, tax, and trusts and estates practices are national in scope. The firm was co-founded in 1879 by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, before his appointment to the Court. For more information, please visit www.nutter.com and follow the firm on LinkedIn.
