“At Accenture we know that our commitment to inclusion, diversity and equality unleashes innovation, and underpins a culture in which everyone feels they have an equal opportunity to feel they belong, advance and thrive. We share in Diversity Lab’s mission and embrace the Mansfield Rule’s focus on accountability and transparency, which we believe builds trust and will help increase diversity in the legal profession.” Joel Unruch | General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Accenture
“The Mansfield Certification program has been a wonderful value-add to Axiom’s ongoing commitment to DEI. It not only helps us document and address the diversity of our legal department, but it provides a framework that enables greater collaboration with many of our clients in advancing their own DEI goals. It’s empowered all of us to engage more deeply on transforming and advancing DEI in the legal industry.” Catherine Kemnitz | Chief Legal Officer | Axiom Global Inc.
“BASF is strongly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and has been at the forefront in advancing measurable change within the profession for several years. We are proud to have achieved Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Certification Plus status again this year. We strive to continually further our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and are proud to see the success of those efforts reflected in leadership roles in our in-house legal department and also externally with the law firms who represent BASF.” Karen Killeen | Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer North America | BASF Corporation
“Bloomberg’s Legal & Compliance Department is deeply committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. We’re honored to support Diversity Lab on its Move the Needle Fund and MRLD initiatives, and we are thrilled to have achieved Mansfield Certification as part of the MRLD 2.0 cohort. The practical tips about tracking the diversity of our legal department and transparency, which we learned through the Mansfield certification program’s knowledge sharing sessions and resource library, have helped us refine our recruiting, advancement, and outside counsel engagement practices. We will continue building upon our progress as part of the MRLD 3.0 cohort, and look forward to continuing our work with Diversity Lab to advance the Mansfield Rule’s mission.” David Levine | Chief Legal Officer | Bloomberg, L.P.
“The proactive steps encouraged by the certification process produced undeniable results. Over the course of the certification program, the percentage of attorneys from underrepresented groups (including women) engaged to represent us as outside counsel increased from 34% to 80% and the percentage of attorneys engaged as outside counsel that identify as racial or ethnic minorities increased from 5% to 17%.” Kelly Lefferts | Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary | Bloomin’ Brands
“The City of Austin Law Department is honored to have achieved Mansfield 2.0 certification. The process helped us identify areas where we are doing well, but more importantly, it highlighted areas for improvement and provided the tools to get us to our goal. We look forward to rolling up our sleeves and working to meet the criteria for the next level of certification.” Deborah Thomas | Deputy City Attorney | City of Austin Law Department
“We worked hard for this—and it was worth it. To boost diversity in legal leadership, everyone has to commit, and the Mansfield Rule certification process kept us accountable to that commitment while helping us formalize our existing process. It also aligned with what Eaton aims to do which is to become a model of inclusion and diversity in our industry. We’re now even closer to our aim, with a stronger strategy for attracting historically underrepresented legal talent.” Terry Szmagala | Chief Legal Officer | Eaton
“HP’s participation in the Mansfield Rule for Legal Departments 2.0 initiative brought a trackable rigor to our internal diversification focus. Given the demands that we make of our outside counsel to field diverse teams on HP matters, it was critically important to impose similar accountability on ourselves. Furthermore, being part of this community with like-minded companies allowed us to learn from different perspectives and share best practices while at the same time bringing our own unique perspective. We very much look forward to continuing this journey through MRLD 3.0.” Julie Jacobs | Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel | HP Inc.
“Lincoln Financial has a solid diversity, equity and inclusion foundation, with aspirations to increase our minority representation in all areas of our company. The Mansfield Certification helps the Legal Department take these efforts one step further. The reporting rigor of the Mansfield Certification process has prompted more regular reflection on our progress toward meeting our DEI goals, both internally and externally. We have benefited from the consistent focus on diversity, equity and inclusion that the Mansfield Certification process brings to our Legal department.” Craig Beazer | General Counsel | Lincoln Financial Group
“We’re proud that McDonald’s Legal Department has achieved Mansfield Rule Certification Plus – a leading example of the action needed to accelerate change within the legal industry. Building DE&I into the way our Legal Team operates and in our partnerships has enabled us to recruit more equitably and foster a more diverse pipeline of talent. While we’re excited about this progress, we look forward to continuing this work and the continued accountability and rigor this rule brings.” Desiree Ralls-Morrison | Executive Vice President, Global Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary | McDonald’s Corporation
“Our diversity initiatives, including successful efforts to recruit new lawyers and interns and to increase awareness of the importance of diversity in all decisions made in the legal department, have been greatly enhanced by our participation in the Mansfield Rule program.”Jorge Lopez, Jr. | Executive Vice President and General Counsel | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
“Micron’s Mansfield Rule certification led to significant and intentional advancements in our consideration and hiring of diverse and underrepresented individuals to fill important roles on the legal team and to serve as outside counsel on critical matters. Micron recognizes that diverse teams lead to better results, and we are committed to continuing to lead by example both in the legal team and across the company.” Rob Beard | SVP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary | Micron Technology, Inc.
“The Mansfield Certification program provided our legal team with a structured and approachable way to evaluate and analyze our outside counsel spend and internal lawyer hiring in a way that yielded significant increase in lawyer diversity.This program provided us with a framework for turning Scoular’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal industry into actionable and tangible outcomes.” Megan Belcher | Chief Legal & External Affairs Officer | The Scoular Company
“Our inclusive culture is what binds us together. We can make the most of the diverse insights and abilities of our people that underpin our important work when we have the best and most diverse talent and leadership. That’s why I was pleased to support participation in the Mansfield certification process at Teva and even prouder that our legal and HR colleagues have embraced these goals with intention to help us reach our diversity goals. We’re grateful to join our colleagues in the legal industry in serving as a catalyst for meaningful change and new career opportunities.” David Stark | Chief Legal Officer | Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.
“We continue to reap many benefits from MRLD 2.0, including in how we hire and develop our legal professionals. It’s also prompted us to think differently about the outside counsel teams that best represent our values and serve our needs. As a result, we’ve meaningfully increased the diversity of our representation and also deepened our relationships with law firms who share our commitment to DEI.” Jim Chosy | Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel | U.S. Bank
“By collaborating with other firms and law departments in Mansfield, US Foods has gained valuable knowledge and insights. Most importantly, it has helped us hold ourselves and our outside counsel partners accountable as we strive towards a more inclusive legal community.” Kristin Coleman | General Counsel | US Foods
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