Polsinelli PC issued the following announcement on July 2.
Am Law 100 firm Polsinelli is pleased to announce it has been awarded the 2020 Gold Standard Certification by the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) for incorporating women into the highest levels of firm leadership. This is Polsinelli’s fourth time achieving the Gold Standard Certification.
Just 48 U.S. law firms and eight U.K. law firms received Gold Standard Certification this year. Major law firms with 300 or more lawyers in the U.S. are eligible for Gold Standard Certification if they successfully meet objective criteria regarding the number of women among equity partners, in firm leadership positions and in the ranks of their most highly compensated partners.
“We are proud to have earned WILEF’s Gold Standard Certification for the fourth time, as it reflects our continued and successful commitment to prioritizing diversity and inclusion,” said Jane Arnold, Polsinelli Health Care Alignment and Organizations Practice Chair, St. Louis Office Managing Partner and Women’s Empowerment Committee Chair. “We have experienced first-hand that a diverse and inclusive workplace thrives and achieves success through openness, creativity and acceptance. We live by our commitment to recruiting, retaining and rewarding diverse leaders.”
Polsinelli’s Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Seattle, San Francisco and St. Louis offices are led by female managing partners, and three of the firm’s major departments: Labor and Employment, Litigation and Cross-Departmental Litigation – are led by female chairs. Additionally, women serve as practice chairs of several of the firm’s large national practice groups including, Global Franchise & Supply Network, Health Care Alignment and Organizations, Health Care Operations, Health Care Litigation and Disputes, Chemical Science Patent Prosecution, Biotech/Life Sciences Patent Prosecution, Commercial Litigation, Insurance Recovery Litigation, Real Estate and Construction. Women also hold high ranks in the firm’s administration leadership team serving in the roles of Chief Recruiting Officer, Chief People and Communications Officer and Chief of Staff.
The WILEF Gold Standard Certification is the only program of its kind directed toward certifying, publicly recognizing and broadly publicizing law firms that have integrated women into the highest leadership positions. To receive the 2020 Gold Standard Certification, firms had to demonstrate 20% of equity partners or 33% of the attorneys becoming equity partners during the past 12 months are women and at least three of the following five criteria:
15% of the firm and U.S. branch office heads are women
20% of the firm’s primary governance committee are women
20% of the firm’s compensation committee or its equivalent are women
15% of the top half of the firm’s equity partners in terms of compensation are women
10% of the women equity partners are women of color, or 4% of women equity partners are LGBT
Polsinelli achieved all six applicable criteria.
Original source can be found here.