Thompson Coburn LLP issued the following announcement on July 29.
As an important next step in our Diversity & Inclusion efforts, we are pleased to announce that Thompson Coburn has signed on to Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule 3.0 pilot, a national initiative designed to close the gender and diversity gap in the legal profession.
Mansfield 3.0 requires that participating law firms consider at least 30 percent women and diverse attorneys for promotions, senior-level hiring, significant leadership roles, and inclusion on client proposals. Mansfield 3.0 is not a quota system, but simply a framework to ensure that firms consistently and consciously consider diversity when making important decisions about recruitment, retention and promotions.
The rule is named after Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to the practice of law in the United States. It traces its origin to the 2016 Women in Law Hackathon hosted by Diversity Lab in collaboration with Bloomberg Law and Stanford Law School.
“We are constantly looking for ways to strengthen the diversity of our Firm,” said Chair Tom Minogue. “Our clients expect this. Our communities expect this. And we have that expectation of ourselves. Our participation in Mansfield 3.0 will allow us to meaningfully incorporate this framework into our hiring, retention and promotion processes so that women, racially and ethnically diverse and LGBTQ+ attorneys and staff have equal opportunities to excel.”
Thompson Coburn is committed to becoming a Mansfield Certified firm by Summer 2020. The Mansfield 3.0 initiative at Thompson Coburn will be led by partner Tony Anderson, Diversity Committee co-chair, and Norma Jackson, Director of Diversity and Inclusion.
Original source can be found here.