Forty-four major law firms and 55 corporate legal departments are teaming up to boost diversity in the legal profession by drawing on two inspirational figures: the late Dan Rooney, beloved owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Arabella Mansfield, a 19th century women’s rights activist who became the first American woman admitted into the legal profession in 1869.
The ‘Mansfield Rule’ is a data-driven, modified version of the Rooney Rule, which was first proposed by Dan Rooney and adopted by the NFL in 2003. At first, the rule required NFL teams to interview at least one minority candidate to fill head coaching vacancies. Eventually, it was expanded to include general manager positions and female candidates. In its first 10 years the Rooney Rule ushered in some real gains — but over time, its impact began to wane.
The new rule takes the old rule’s shortcomings into account. It was clear the Rooney Rule didn’t go far enough, says Caren Ulrich Stacy, the CEO of Diversity Lab, a research outfit that is experimenting with ways to improve diversity ratios in the legal profession. The Mansfield Rule, which is one of the diversity initiatives the Lab has helped shape, will measure whether firms are actively considering diverse candidates for at least 30% of open leadership and governance roles. If you’ve got a slate of 10 potential hires, three need to be people of color or women. “Research shows that 30% in a candidate pool is a real tipping point,” says Stacy.
The new rule also makes it very clear what a “governance role” actually is. Stacy ticks off a list: “Managing partner, chairperson, practice group leader, office head, compensation committee, policy committee, executive committee, equity partner — anything that has governance and leadership responsibilities associated with it has to hit the 30% consideration threshold,” she says.
Stacy has gone to the mattresses before over diversity. She spent 25 years as the head of talent for various law firms before heading out on her own. Diversity Lab is her second venture. “I spent all this time hiring lawyers and half of them worked out and half didn’t,” she says, “I thought, ‘there must be a better way to think about this.’” She turned to data, research and behavioral science. “Other industries are doing a lot of research and development around talent, so why not apply that thinking to the law?”
It’s a big issue. While the gender balance for first-year lawyers is roughly equal, “by the time they get to equity partnership, about nine or 10 years down the road, only about 16% are women.” Attorneys of color, particularly women, are up against a more substantial problem. “It’s not so much a leaky pipeline, though we lose plenty of attorneys of color along the way,” she says. “It’s that there is no pipeline.”
One of the best aspects of the Mansfield Rule is that it was designed, in part, by actual lawyers. Last year, Diversity Lab held a Women In Law Hackathon in collaboration with Stanford Law School and Bloomberg Law, in search of new, scalable inclusion ideas. Some 54 senior-level partners from law firms across the U.S. worked in virtual teams of six, with two expert advisors and assistance from a Stanford Law student, for six months. The teams presented their ideas in a high-energy pitch event in front of big league judges, including Tony West, Pepsico’s General Counsel and Alan Bryan, Walmart’s senior associate general counsel. While the Mansfield Rule was the big winner, four other ideas presented that day are also being developed at the Diversity Lab.
Because so many firms participated in the hackathon, the Mansfield Rule had a built-in, receptive audience from the get-go. The inaugural participants now have 12 months to prove the idea’s merit. Any firm that can demonstrate they adhered to the guidelines throughout the year will become Mansfield Rule certified. This distinction comes with a real perk: the candidates hired or promoted through the process are eligible to attend a two-day client forum in 2018, attended by 55 corporate in-house legal honchos, who will be there to network, mentor and perhaps offer lucrative new business. Among those committed are representatives from 3M, Cargill, Facebook, Ford, Google, Medtronic, Saleforce,Target and Walmart.
“We believe that diversity delivers better results,” said Julie Gruber, executive vice president and global general counsel of Gap Inc. said in a statement. “We’ve worked for years to help drive meaningful diversity at our preferred law firm providers, and supporting the Mansfield Rule Client Forum is an important next step in this work.”
This same corporate cohort is working with Diversity Lab to adapt the Mansfield Rule, which is law firm specific, to traditional corporate structures. And just in time. “Since we announced this, I’ve gotten calls from financial services firms, manufacturing, healthcare and tech firms asking about it,” says Stacy. The plan is to study the results from the first year and share everything they learn. “We’ll see where it moves the needle and where it falls short,” she says. “And then iterate from there.”
On Point
| United Airlines has raised over $1 million for Harvey relief on Crowdrise |
| A raceAhead reader alerted us to the campaign, which was launched on Crowdrise over the weekend. The company matched the first $200,00 in donations and awarded bonus miles to Mileage Plus members who gave to one of six approved relief organizations. "The thoughts and hearts of the entire United family are fixed firmly on everyone impacted by Hurricane Harvey. We will be with them every step of the way and the only equal to the severity of this storm is the seriousness of purpose that we are all taking to ensure that these devastated communities recover fully and stronger than ever,” a United spokesperson told raceAhead in an email. |
| Crowdrise |
| When male (but not female) unemployment rates rise, incidents of sexual harassment increase |
| Sexual discrimination claims made to the Federal EEOC are up about 10% in the last 20 years, so Dan Cassino, a researcher and an associate professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, tested a social explanation as to why. His analysis of federal data shows that regions experiencing an increase in male unemployment rates (with no comparable increase in for women) lead to more sexual discrimination claims. His lab studies are where things get really interesting. In a computer-based exercise purporting to study “visual memory,” when male participants were told that women tended to better at the assigned task, they were more likely to send pornographic images to female participants, even when the women – who were researchers - objected. When a female participant self-identified as a feminist, men were also more likely to send unwanted pornographic images. |
| HBR |
| Hellboy actor steps down citing “whitewashing” controversy |
| Openly white British actor Ed Skrein has proven himself to be a major ally by publicly declining a significant film role in the upcoming reboot of Hellboy. His casting caused an uproar, as high-profile critics pointed out that since the comic character the part is based on is part Japanese, overlooked Asian actors might better fill the bill. "I accepted the role unaware that the character in the original comics was of mixed Asian heritage," he said in a statement. “There has been intense conversation and understandable upset since the announcement, and I must do what I feel is right.” |
| Rolling Stone |
The Woke Leader
| The rock and roll way to talk to a white supremacist |
| We’ve covered the story of The Slants before, the Portland, Ore.-based band that took its quest to trademark its controversial name all the way to the Supreme Court. (They won.) The Asian-American musicians wanted to appropriate the name and turn it from a racial slur into an affirmation of sorts. This wonderful TEDx talk from Slants bassist Simon Tam puts real meaning to the stand they took. In the talk, Tam explains his secret to overcoming his own prejudices. “Ask questions before you make any assumptions.” But his philosophy of inclusion was put to the test when the band played in a maximum security prison filled with white supremacists. (After you've listened, enjoy this version of their cover of “Born In The USA.” It's particularly poignant.) |
| TEDxUCR |
| Formerly incarcerated undergrads start a campus group to support other onetime inmates |
| Turns out, the qualities that get you into prison aren’t always that different from the ones that get you into college. “I’ve always been somebody who went out and got what I wanted,” says one former inmate named Danny Murillo, who now attends the University of California, Berkeley. A chance encounter with another former inmate, inspired the two men to create a group to help others succeed, and to help currently incarcerated men find a pathway to college. The idea is inspiring; their complicated lives, even more so. A must read. |
| The New Yorker |
| Maya Angelou will be eating your lunch now |
| The only way you can be a mark, is if you want something for nothing.” So begins this marvelous interview from the Studs Terkel audio archive, now beautifully animated by the team at PBS’s Blank on Blank. Angelou’s stepfather owned pool halls and gambling houses and taught his young step-daughter how to identify marked cards and such. He also introduced her to a lively array of professional con men who gave her the skinny on how the world really worked. You want to make a big score? Their tip: “Use the white man’s bigotry against him.” |
| Blank on Blank |
Quote
|
|---|
