Boston, MA. International law firm Nixon Peabody LLP is pleased to announce it has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus recognition from Diversity Lab for the fifth consecutive year.
Legal industry incubator Diversity Lab launched the Mansfield Rule to increase and sustain diversity in leadership and the pipeline to leadership roles by broadening the pool of candidates considered for advancement. The rule helps foster systemic changes that help create long-term diversity, inclusion, and equity in the legal profession. For law firms, it requires that at least 30% of candidates for leadership roles come from historically underrepresented groups—including women, racial and ethnic groups, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and those with disabilities.
As part of this year’s 5.0 version, Diversity Lab expanded the requirements for “Certification Plus” designation, including the tracking of candidate pools in a disaggregated manner to measure the impact of the Mansfield Rule by each underrepresented group and also the inclusion of a Middle Eastern/North African identity option. Firms were also required to consider at least 30% underrepresented lawyers for nominations to Chambers USA to help increase external visibility for diverse lawyers, and to consider 30% underrepresented individuals when hiring and promoting C-level and other senior-level professional staff roles.
“Having participated in the Mansfield Rule initiative since its inception, our firm has increased the number of women, racially and ethnically diverse, and LGBTQ+ attorneys considered for various leadership roles at the firm and, as a result, we’ve seen increases in the diversity of our leaders and committee members across the board,” said Nixon Peabody CEO and managing partner Stephen D. Zubiago. “This is no coincidence. By incorporating the Mansfield Rule principles into our leadership selection process, we are able to consider, and ultimately select, a more diverse group for these opportunities. Our progress on this initiative has made our organization better, and demonstrates our commitment to building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive firm.”
Over the past five years, Nixon Peabody’s partner compensation committee, practice group leaders, policy committee, and management committee have all achieved 30% or greater diversity, with the firm’s compensation committee reaching 50% diversity in 2022.
Nixon Peabody is one of only four firms and more than 25 general counsel partnering with Diversity Lab for the organization’s Move the Needle Fund (MTN), a collaborative effort to create positive change throughout the legal profession. As part of its participation in MTN, the firm launched a workflow management app—the Mansfield Rule for Workflow—that uses technology to mitigate inequity and implicit bias in the attorney work assignment process.
You can read Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule announcement here, and you can learn more about Nixon Peabody’s DEI initiatives here.