Dykema Achieves Mansfield 5.0 Certification Plus Classification
October, 2022 - Detroit, Michigan
Dykema, a leading national law firm, announced today that the firm has achieved Mansfield 5.0 certification and achieved Mansfield Certification Plus status after completing a 12-month certification process in collaboration with Diversity Lab. The 5.0 Certification process marked Dykema’s first time participating in Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Certification process.
“The Mansfield Certification process both complements and augments the firm’s efforts in promoting diversity and creating opportunities for underrepresented lawyers,” said Len Wolfe, Dykema’s Chair and CEO. “Achieving Mansfield Certification and earning Certified Plus distinction is a great accomplishment for the firm. We spent a lot of time working as a team toward meeting and exceeding requirements in order to improve our firm.”
To achieve certification, law firms are required to adopt and adhere to specific requirements, including considering at least 30% underrepresented talent when appointing or electing leaders, promoting equity partnership, hiring senior-level laterals, and business development activities. The increasingly difficult “certification plus” category signifies if a firm has gone beyond just consideration and actually achieved greater diversity in a notable number of its current leadership roles.
“It’s not about numbers, it is about transformation,” said Sherrie L. Farrell, Chair of Dykema’s Diversity and Inclusion Board. “Mansfield has allowed us to look at our firm and its business practices in a holistic way and codify those business practices in a way that skews toward increased diversity and inclusion.
Diversity Lab has expanded its objectives for Mansfield Certification over the past five years, adding new elements including the requirement to consider LGBTQ+ lawyers and lawyers with disabilities for leadership roles and other critical activities like pitch teams and lateral partner hiring.
Just last month, Dykema announced its continued commitment to the program through the firm’s participation in the Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certification process. The Mansfield Rule 6.0 broadens the requirements to promote underrepresented individuals in C-suite roles. In addition, it requires that firms consider individuals from all four historically underrepresented groups and publish transparent job descriptions when selecting for leadership roles, equity partnerships, and over a dozen other activities centered on the path to leadership for lawyers.
Just as it did through the 5.0 Certification process, the 6.0 Certification process will be led by Dykema’s Mansfield Task Force, made up of professionals across the firm’s offices and practice groups. The task force is co-chaired by Farrell and Peter Kellett, Chairman Emeritus.
