Fish & Richardson Earns Mansfield 2.0 Certified Plus Designation from Diversity Lab

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Sep 03, 2019, 16:46 ET

BOSTON, Sept. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fish & Richardson is one of 50 "trailblazing" U.S. firms to have earned the highest designation of Mansfield 2.0 Certified Plus from Diversity Lab for meeting or exceeding the pipeline consideration requirements for Certification and for successfully reaching at least 30 percent diverse lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. Last year, Fish was one of 26 law firms that became Mansfield 1.0 Certified Plus after completing the inaugural one-year Mansfield Rule pilot in July 2018.

The Mansfield Rule Certification 2.0 measures whether law firms have affirmatively considered at least 30 percent women, lawyers of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyers for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions. The goal of the Mansfield Rule is to boost the representation of diverse lawyers in law firm leadership by broadening the pool of candidates considered for these opportunities.

"We are thrilled to again receive the Mansfield Certification Plus designation from Diversity Lab. By increasing the diversity of our talent pool, we are making significant progress towards diversifying our next generation of law firm leaders," said Kristine McKinney, Chief Legal Talent & Inclusion Officer at Fish & Richardson. "Diversity in our backgrounds, experiences and perspectives increases the quality of legal services we provide to our clients and enhances the culture of our firm. We are proud to partner with the Diversity Lab."

To achieve the Mansfield Rule objectives, participating law firms established processes to document and analyze their talent pipelines. Prior to participating in the Mansfield Rule, only 12% of firms were tracking their candidate pools for leadership roles and 25% were tracking their candidate pools for lateral partner hiring. Now, 100% of participating firms are tracking candidate pools for these categories.

Fish will also be one of 99 firms participating in Mansfield 3.0, which will include lawyers with disabilities as well as women, lawyers of color and LGBTQ+ lawyers as part of the diverse candidate pool.

Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. Experimental ideas – such as the OnRamp Fellowship and the Mansfield Rule – are created through its Hackathons and piloted in collaboration with more than 100 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.

Fish & Richardson, a premier global intellectual property law firm, is sought-after and trusted by the world's most innovative brands and influential technology leaders. Fish offers patent prosecution, counseling and litigation and trademark and copyright prosecution, counseling and litigation. Our deep bench of attorneys with first-chair trial experience in every technology makes us the go-to firm for the most technically complex cases. We have an established reputation as a top-tier firm for patent portfolio planning, strategy and prosecution, as well as post-grant proceedings at the PTAB. Fish was established in 1878, and now has more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists in the U.S., Europe and China. Our success is rooted in our creative and inclusive culture, which values the diversity of people, experiences and perspectives. For more information, visit fr.com or follow us at @FishRichardson.