Caren Ulrich Stacy (left) and Lisa Kirby of Diversity Lab. (Courtesy photos)

Sixty-four firms are now "Mansfield 2.0 Certified"—a notable badge of success for law firms in a legal environment that increasingly ties diversity to profits.

Launched in 2018 by the legal diversity organization Diversity Lab, firms that are "Mansfield" certified have revamped their recruiting and promotion processes to ensure that 30% of potential candidates for "significant" leadership roles are diverse.

Notable positions include compensation committee partner, equity partner, lateral partner and practice group head. The initiative is in its second year, hence the "2.0″ designation, which for the first time included LGBTQ+ candidates. Mansfield 3.0 will include lawyers with disabilities.

"Our plan is to raise the bar each year," said Lisa Kirby, Diversity Lab chief intelligence and knowledge sharing officer, in a statement. "It's especially meaningful to lead this initiative this year because it marks the 150th anniversary of Arabella Mansfield's becoming the first woman admitted to a U.S. bar association."

The initiative is a twist on the National Football League's "Rooney Rule," which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for the general manager or head coaching positions.

The new round of certification comes as clients have increasingly tied diversity to legal spend: More than 200 GCs have signed onto January's open letter warning firms that they will lose work if they don't staff their matters with diverse teams. Many see being Mansfield certified as a very public way to show that a firm has made a commitment to diversity, and Diversity Lab has even built the client-firm relationship into the program.

The 64 firms on this year's list are: Akerman; Fasken; Munger, Tolles & Olson; Arnold & Porter; Fenwick & West; Neal Gerber Eisenberg; Baker Botts; Finnegan; Nixon Peabody; Baker McKenzie; Fish & Richardson; Norton Rose Fulbright; Beveridge & Diamond; Foley & Mansfield; O'Melveny & Myers; Blank Rome; Goodwin; Orrick; Brinks Gilson & Lione; Goulston & Storrs; Pepper Hamilton; Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Hogan Lovells; Reed Smith; Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Holland & Hart; Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr; Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney; Holland & Knight; Schiff Hardin; Clifford Chance; Husch Blackwell; Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis; Cooley; Jenner & Block; Seyfarth Shaw; Covington; Katten Muchin Rosenman; Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton; Crowell & Moring; Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck; Steptoe; Day Pitney; Latham & Watkins; Stoel Rives; Dechert; Littler Mendelson; White & Case; Dentons; McDermott Will & Emery; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; DLA Piper; Merchant & Gould; Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; Dorsey & Whitney; Miller Canfield; Winston & Strawn; Drinker Biddle & Reath; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Womble Bond Dickinson; Eversheds Sutherland; Morris, Manning & Martin; Faegre Baker Daniels; Morrison & Foerster.

Certified firms have the opportunity to send their newly promoted diverse attorneys to one of four client forums, a small group networking forum between the firm attorneys and senior in-house counsel from more than 60 companies including Barclays, Google and U.S. Bank.

Chemical company BASF has required its firms to fill out the American Bar Association model diversity survey and demanded them to bring diverse teams to all of their pitches for a few years now. When the first phase of the Mansfield initiative launched in 2017, BASF went a step further and began a push to ensure that their top 25 firms in terms of legal spend got Mansfield certified.

"Having diverse teams is good for a lot of reasons," said Sneha Desai, BASF's associate general counsel for litigation. "But the collective voice from clients like us, Walmart, HP and 3M will drive better legal and business results."

BASF has been successful in helping get a majority with their firms certified, including Hogan Lovells. Hogan CEO Steve Immelt said that the most key aspect Mansfield process is the formalization of diversity programming and infrastructure, something that law firms neglected for too long.

"The critical thing with improving diversity and inclusion is to get tactical," Immelt said. "We need to get people off of autopilot and recognize there are implicit biases in our work."

According to Diversity Lab, participating firms reported higher diversity representation in several aspects:

• 92% of participating firms reported a higher percentage of diverse attorneys participating in formal pitches;
• 78% of participating firms hired a higher percentage of diverse lateral senior associates;
• 65% of participating firms promoted a higher percentage of diverse lawyers into equity partnership; and
• 57% of participating firms elected or appointed a higher percentage of diverse lawyers into office head positions.

Ninety-nine firms have signed on for the next round of certification, Mansfield 3.0, which runs from July 2019 to July 2020. Five of the participating firms—Eversheds Sutherland, Hogan Lovells, Holland & Hart, Miller Canfield, and Stoel Rives—have volunteered to pilot a more intensive program, which measures individual demographic groups.

Additionally, several firms have also achieved Mansfield "Plus" status, which requires that a firm reach at least 30% diverse lawyer representation in a notable number of their current leadership roles and committees.

Those firms that have achieved plus status are: Arnold & Porter; Baker Botts; Baker McKenzie; Beveridge & Diamond; Blank Rome; Brinks; Bryan Cave; Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney; Cooley; Covington; Day Pitney; Dechert; Dentons; DLA Piper; Dorsey & Whitney; Drinker Biddle & Reath; Eversheds Sutherland; Faegre; Fenwick & West; Finnegan; Fish & Richardson; Goodwin; Goulston & Storrs; Hogan Lovells; Holland & Hart; Holland & Knight; Husch Blackwell; Jenner & Block; Latham & Watkins; Littler Mendelson; McDermott; Miller Canfield; Morgan Lewis; Morris, Manning; Morrison & Foerster; Munger; Nixon Peabody; Norton Rose; O'Melveny & Myers; Orrick; Reed Smith; Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr; Schiff Hardin; Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis; Sheppard Mullin; Steptoe; Stoel Rives; White & Case; Wilmer; Wilson Sonsini; and Winston & Strawn.