Maslon Achieves Mansfield Certified Plus Status for Leadership Diversity Efforts

Maslon is proud to announce that it has achieved Midsize Mansfield Certification Plus status after completing a rigorous 18-month collaboration with Diversity Lab to track, measure, and achieve diversity in leadership.

The Mansfield certification recognizes the structural changes and actions taken by Maslon over an 18-month period to ensure consideration of at least 30% women lawyers, underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitches, lateral lawyer hiring, and more. The certification also recognizes Maslon’s efforts to increase transparency for internal leadership roles with written and accessible advancement processes and role descriptions. Our Certification “Plus” status indicates that, in addition to the foregoing consideration and transparency requirements, Maslon has successfully achieved 30% representation of historically underrepresented lawyers in current leadership roles and pipeline activities.

The time period measured was from September 2021 to March 2023.

“Maslon is pleased to have reached this significant milestone and will continue to build teams that reflect the diversity of our clients and communities while providing exceptional counsel and service,” said Maslon Board Chair Keiko Sugisaka.

Maslon was among 71 U.S. and Canadian midsize law firms, typically ranging from 25 to 150 lawyers, that achieved Midsize Mansfield Certification and about 35 that achieved “Plus” status, the Diversity Lab announced Tuesday.

"All of these certified firms stepped up as trailblazers to create more diverse and inclusive leaderships in the midsize firm sector,” said Alyssa Jarvis, senior manager of Mansfield at Diversity Lab.

“Despite launching this change-management effort during a global pandemic among other marketplace disruptions, these firms were not deterred from tackling challenging talent systems changes to increase diversity in their firms and the profession,” Jarvis said. “This is a truly committed group of firms and leaders who see the value in measuring what matters."

Certified firms are now tracking and measuring their leadership pipelines and ensuring that their processes for advancement are transparent. With these tracking mechanisms in place, firms have the knowledge needed to evaluate if their advancement processes and decisions are inclusive and equitable.

About Diversity Lab

Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. Experimental ideas are created through our Hackathons and piloted in collaboration with more than 350 top law firms and legal departments across the country. Diversity Lab leverages data, behavioral science, design thinking, and technology to further develop and test new ideas and research, measure the results, and share the lessons learned. For more details, visit www.diversitylab.com.