Goodwin achieved Diversity Lab’s Mansfield 3.0 Plus Certification after completing a twelve-month certification program.
The Mansfield Rule Certification 3.0 attests that Goodwin affirmatively considered women, lawyers of color, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities — at least 30 percent of the candidate pool — for recruitment, governance roles, equity partner promotions, and inclusion in formal pitches to clients. “Plus” status indicates that, in addition to meeting or exceeding the baseline certification requirements, Goodwin successfully reached at least 30 percent diverse lawyer representation in a notable number of their current leadership roles.
This marks Goodwin’s third consecutive year of Mansfield Rule Certification, which was first issued to the firm in 2018. The goal of the Mansfield Rule is to boost the representation of diverse lawyers in law firm leadership by broadening the pool of candidates considered for these roles and opportunities. Goodwin also signed on to the 2021 iteration of the Mansfield Rule. New for this version, Mansfield 2021 expands the criteria to ensure that at least 30% of the lawyers staffed on matters resulting from formal pitch meetings during the certification period were historically underrepresented lawyers.
Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. Experimental ideas like the Mansfield Rule are created through hackathons and piloted in collaboration with more than 100 top law firms and legal departments across the country.
Goodwin partners with Diversity Lab on several diversity and inclusion initiatives. The firm participates in Diversity Lab’s OnRamp Fellowship program, which provides a platform for women lawyers to re-enter the legal profession after stepping away from the practice of law for a period of time. Goodwin also placed among the top ten highest scoring firms in Diversity Lab’s Inclusion Blueprint Survey, which measures gender diversity in law firm leadership as well as the work experiences of women at the practice group level, with a particular focus on intellectual property.
Learn more about Goodwin’s Diversity, Equity + Inclusion efforts here.