Several firms earn Mansfield Certification.

Byline: Thomas Franz

Five law firms with offices in Michigan have achieved Mansfield Certification after completing the Mansfield Rule 2.0 12-month program.

The designation measures if law firms have considered at least 30 percent of the candidate pool women, lawyers of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyers for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions.

The five firms in Michigan that earned the certification are Foley & Mansfield, Miller Canfield, Brinks Gilson & Lione, Jackson Lewis and Pepper Hamilton LLP.

"From a management standpoint, one thing we try hard to do is make sure our leadership opportunities are being offered on the broadest possible basis," said Miller Canfield CEO Michael P. McGee.

In total, 64 firms earned the designation, up from 27 last year.

According to a press release from Diversity Lab, prior to participating in the Mansfield Rule, only 12 percent of firms were tracking their candidate pools for leadership roles and 25 percent were tracking their candidate pools for lateral partner hiring. Now, 100 percent of those firms are tracking candidate pools in those areas.

Other key statistics coming out of this year's initiative:

? 94% of Mansfield Rule 2.0 firms said that after adopting the Mansfield Rule, their candidate pool for pitch teams was more diverse.

? 65% of participating firms promoted a higher percentage of diverse lawyers into equity partnership.

? 92% of participating firms reported a higher percentage of diverse attorneys participating in formal pitches.

At Miller Canfield, the Detroit-based firm reported that 49 percent of its associates are women, including 78 percent of the 2019 summer associate class.

The firm also reported that 55 percent of its 2019 summer associate class were minorities, and 40 percent of the firm's resident directors are minorities and women.

"The main thing is to continually remind ourselves, all of the lawyers and staff, that we want to always be thinking in inclusive terms," McGee said.

This past year, McGee said Miller Canfield created a scorecard for how different departments within the firm were performing with diversity efforts.

"That creates both a certain degree of accountability and a little bit of healthy competition," McGee said.

McGee said additional motivation for being involved in the Mansfield program has come from large companies whose general counsels have begun demanding that vendor law firms...