After his LinkedIn post calling out legal rankings giant Chambers & Partners for the dearth of women in its rankings went viral, a Mayer Brown partner went one step further this week, asking to be removed from the company's listings – and urging other men in his practice area to do the same.

In an open letter, Chris Arnold, a London partner in Mayer Brown's derivatives and structured products practice, asked to be removed from Chambers' 2020 U.K. derivatives rankings because only one woman made the list, out of 18 lawyers recognised. In Chambers' global derivatives rankings from this year, only two of the 27 ranked lawyers are women.

In the letter, which was published on his LinkedIn page on Monday and addressed to top Chambers editors, Arnold called on the company to remove his name from the ranking until the list was updated so that women comprise 25% of the list, or at least four more women attorneys.

"This is completely unrepresentative of the extraordinary female talent in this sector," Arnold wrote of the current rankings. "One of the root causes of inequality in the legal sector is a lack of diverse role models. Third-party recognition is a critical element impacting a lawyer's perceived success. Chambers is failing to support role models by not recognising more female and diverse lawyers in its rankings.

"I invite the 16 other brilliant male 'Ranked Lawyers' below to join me," he wrote in his post accompanying the letter. As of Wednesday morning, none of the men from the group who he tagged in the post had publicly answered the call.

Chambers did not provide a statement directly addressing Arnold's letter when asked for comment, but on Wednesday the company placed a statement on its website highlighting initiatives it has taken or will take to increase diversity and inclusion. Additionally, Dee Sekar, head of diversity and inclusion at the firm, responded to Arnold's post with an invitation to continue the conversation.

"We really are doing a lot in terms of inclusion at Chambers and I'd be happy to let you/your network know about them," she wrote. "As a corporate lawyer myself… I personally understand the importance of inclusion in the legal profession and Chambers, as a business, is doing everything we can to ensure we are an inclusive organisation that helps further the advancement of inclusion across the profession globally."

Arnold's salvos have been widely shared on LinkedIn, with more than 1,000 reactions and nearly 50 comments on his open-letter post. Among them are messages from associates and attorneys thanking Arnold for his gesture, sharing their experiences in the legal industry and offering advice to Chambers on how it could be more inclusive of women and minorities.

"Back in the day – when I worked at Chambers & Partners – we didn't realise the bias of peer review. Twenty-plus years later, it's important that this issue is resolved and I applaud you for the stand you are taking," wrote one recruiter.

A partner at a firm in Brazil noted that many smaller firms that were headed by women did not receive recognition from Chambers, although the market recognised them: "Just wanted to add that in Brazil for instance, only the biggest law firms are awarded by the Chambers Diversity and Inclusion, while the smaller law firms, usually led by women, are doing a lot more representative work for inclusion in the law field, which are being recognised by the market!"

A fintech parter at Baker McKenzie added that, among the many steps Chambers could take to improve, law firms themselves should continue to improve diversity efforts, and Chambers should take into account who is actually doing the work at a firm: "You could focus on updating rankings so that the more senior men in the sector who do not actively practise any more and are simply heads of team/managing partners and have been in lists for years, are removed to make way for actively practising lawyers."

Arnold declined to comment for this story. In addition to asking his Chambers-ranked male U.K. derivatives colleagues to consider joining his boycott, his LinkedIn post asked attorneys ranked on other Chambers lists to consider whether or not enough women and minority attorneys were being recognised by the research firm.

"For those outstanding lawyers in other sectors and regions that are ranked in any of the legal directories, please take a moment to consider whether those rankings fully reflect the diversity of talented lawyers in your field," he wrote. "If they do not, take action!"

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Is Chambers Ignoring Women?