Hogan Lovells achieves Mansfield Rule Certification Plus in the U.S. and UK for its efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion

Established by Diversity Lab, the goal of the Mansfield Rule is to boost the representation of historically underrepresented lawyers in law firm leadership. Mansfield aims to increase and sustain diversity in leadership within law firms by broadening the pool of women lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, and lawyers from underrepresented racial or ethnic backgrounds who are considered for senior lateral attorney job openings, firm governance opportunities, equity partner promotions, and firm leadership positions.

Rosevelie Márquez Morales, Americas Diversity & Inclusion Director at Hogan Lovells, commented: “Mansfield Certification helps us prioritize our commitments to a diverse talent pool across the organization, especially at the highest ranks. We’ve adopted Mansfield as our standard for our new pitch process, which requires our pitch teams to be more inclusive. By using specific metrics around unconscious bias training, mentorship and sponsorship, we are able to hold ourselves accountable and provide our people with the assistance they need to thrive.”

Firms must also create and publish job descriptions and appointment and election policies for leadership roles within their firms. To achieve Mansfield Certification Plus, Hogan Lovells collaborated with Diversity Lab over a 12-month Certification Plus period with built-in measurement, transparency, and accountability mechanisms. The Certification Plus indicates that, in addition to meeting or exceeding the baseline requirements, the firm has successfully achieved at least 30% underrepresented lawyer representation in a notable number of their current leadership roles. 

Commenting on the UK pilot, Penny Angell, UK Managing Partner at Hogan Lovells, said: “We are delighted to join the inaugural year of the Mansfield Rule in the UK. We have seen many positive outcomes during our U.S. involvement and we are proud that 58% of our Board, 44% of our International Management Committee and 40% of our Industry Sector Heads identify as members of underrepresented groups. The timing of the UK Rule coincides with a number of internal programmes, including the launch of our global Diversity in Pitching policy. In our first year in the UK, we have implemented additional tracking to improve representation and inclusion in formal pitch meetings. We are also looking at staffing on matters to ensure an equitable allocation of work. Collaborating with other firms on the knowledge sharing calls has also been invaluable.”

Learn more about the Mansfield U.S. rule here and find the UK open letter here.