Winston Achieves Mansfield Certification Plus Status

Winston & Strawn has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus status for 2018, demonstrating our firm’s commitment to increasing diversity in our leadership ranks.

Modeled after the NFL’s “Rooney Rule,” the Mansfield Rule measures whether law firms have affirmatively considered women and attorneys of color for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, and lateral positions. Named for Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to practice law in the United States, the Mansfield Rule was one of the winning ideas from the 2016 Women in Law Hackathon in which Winston was an active participant.

Winston went on to become one of the trailblazing law firms that partnered with Diversity Lab to pilot Mansfield Rule 1.0, which involved assessing our talent pipeline, tracking and documenting our progress, and identifying areas for improvement. Our achievement of Mansfield Certification Plus status is the result of this year-long collaborative effort during which Winston:

• Considered women and attorneys of color for at least 70 percent of our open leadership committees/roles at the firm.
• Achieved the goal of having at least 30 percent women and attorneys of color in a notable number of our leadership positions and committees.

Our firm has already signed on to participate in Mansfield Rule 2.0, which incorporates a number of refinements based on feedback from Winston and other 1.0 participants, including the addition of LGBTQ+ lawyers and a new certification category for “participation in formal pitch meetings.”

As a Mansfield Certification Plus firm, Winston’s women attorneys, attorneys of color, and LGBTQ+ attorneys promoted to partner in 2016 and 2017 have been invited to attend one of three Client Forum events to be held this fall. Attendees will have the opportunity to pitch to influential in-house counsel from leading organizations and receive their feedback.

Learn more about Winston’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.