Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP Announced as Mansfield Rule Certified Plus by Diversity Lab
Diversity Lab announced today that Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP is one of 26 midsize law firms that have achieved the inaugural Midsize Mansfield Rule Certification. Marshall Gerstein completed a rigorous 18-month collaboration with Diversity Lab — beginning in September 2020 — to track, consider, measure, and achieve diversity in leadership.
Designed to expand on the early successes of the original Mansfield Rule piloted in 2017 with larger firms, the Midsize Mansfield Rule Certification measures whether law firms with approximately 25 to 150 lawyers have affirmatively considered at least 30 percent women lawyers, underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities for lateral openings, leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, and formal client pitch opportunities. While working to achieve these benchmarks, Marshall Gerstein embedded internal transparency through the establishment of leadership role descriptions and clearly defined leadership appointment and/or election processes. Knowledge sharing is also an integral pillar of Mansfield Rule participation. As part of this foundational element, Marshall Gerstein and the additional certified midsize firms shared best practices and lessons learned with each other throughout the process.
Marshall Gerstein is one of the 16 Certified Midsize Mansfield firms that achieved Certification “Plus” status, which indicates that, in addition to meeting or exceeding the consideration requirements, the firm successfully achieved 30 percent diverse representation in current leadership roles, formal client pitches, and staffing on key matters.
“One of our firm’s greatest strengths is its ability to harness the diverse backgrounds, identities, and perspectives of our team members to provide the best service for our clients,” said Jeffrey Sharp, Managing Partner at Marshall Gerstein. “We are proud to be a Certified Plus firm in the inaugural year of the Midsize Mansfield Rule and to be part of a community of law firms sharing the goal of ensuring inclusive, equitable work environments in the legal profession."
Similar to the original iteration of the Mansfield Rule, firms that successfully certify under the Midsize Mansfield Rule criteria will have the opportunity to send their newly promoted historically underrepresented partners to the Mansfield Rule Client Forums in 2023 to build relationships with and learn from Diversity Lab’s in-house counsel collaborators. To date, more than 80 legal departments have contributed to or hosted Client Forums, including Bloomberg L.P., Fannie Mae, Ford Motor Co., Gap Inc., Google, MassMutual, McDonald’s Corporation, Netflix, PayPal, Pfizer, Starbucks, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Transamerica, Uber Technologies Inc., ViacomCBS, and Walgreen Co.
Since these certified firms first piloted the Midsize Mansfield Rule, the initiative has grown substantially with subsequent cohorts launching in September 2021 and March 2022. As of today, the Midsize Mansfield Rule has grown to more than 140 law firms across the U.S. and Canada.
See the full list of Midsize Mansfield Rule Certified law firms.
About Diversity Lab
Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. Experimental ideas are created through our Hackathons and piloted in collaboration with more than 250 top law firms and legal departments across the country. Diversity Lab leverages data, behavioral science, design thinking, and technology to further develop and test new ideas and research, measure the results, and share the lessons learned.