Clifford Chance

Today we are proud to join with more than 160 US and Canadian law firms, along with 12 UK law firms, in participating in the Mansfield Rule Certification process. 

The Mansfield Rule is a 12-month certification process that measures whether law firms have considered at least 30% women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions. The firm signed up to the Mansfield Rule in the US in 2017 (where we are now certified 4.0, and participating in the 5.0 process) and following this, our continued certification has been instrumental in helping to deliver our inclusion strategy. The Mansfield Rule is helping to provide focus and clear measurement data on our approaches to improving the diversity of associate talent, partner promotions and lateral hiring.

This year sees the first expansion of the Mansfield Rule outside of North America. As one of the pioneering law firms in the US four years ago, Clifford Chance is delighted to join with 12 other firms in becoming inaugural participants in Mansfield Rule UK.

During the course of the UK certification period, we must achieve at least 70% of the following criteria in order to gain Mansfield Rule Certification:

1) Considering at least 30% historically underrepresented lawyers for:

• Equity partner promotions
• Lateral partner, senior associate, and newly qualified lawyer hiring searches
• Election or appointment to Managing Partner, practice group head and office head leadership positions
• Election or appointment to Executive, Partner Promotion and Compensation Committees
• Participation in formal client pitches

2) Providing transparent role responsibilities and processes for appointments and/or elections to governance roles

Although Mansfield Rule UK was established to focus on the progress of diversity in fee earning roles, we have also decided to implement the same criteria across all roles in the UK, including Business Professionals.

The Mansfield Rule provides us with another tool to help us deliver more inclusive outcomes for all our people as part of our inclusion strategy of Change the Rules, Change the Culture, Change the Lived Experience. We can already see the impact it has had in the US where we have been early adopters and leaders on the initiative and we are confident it can and will help us to deliver similar success in the UK region. Delivering a diversity of voices and experiences in an inclusive culture is key to our success as a global leader.