Miller Canfield Earns Top Honors in Diversity
Leading as the sole Michigan firm to pilot intensive data tracking program for race, gender, LGBTQ status, and disability inclusion
Miller Canfield announced today that for the second year in a row, it is named among major law firms nationwide that have earned Mansfield Plus Certification. Fifty-one U.S. firms met the high standards to achieve certification from Diversity Lab, the leading incubator for innovative solutions to foster diversity and inclusion in law firms.
Named for Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to practice law in the United States the Mansfield Rule firms affirmatively consider women and minority attorneys—at least 30 percent of the candidate pool—for leadership positions and senior-level recruiting. Mansfield Plus Certification indicates that the firm also has achieved representation of at least 30 percent women and minorities in a large number of key leadership roles and lateral hiring.
“Diversity and inclusion have been an integral part of Miller Canfield’s culture for decades. We have been leaders in these principles since before the middle of the last century, and are proud to be the first firm in Michigan to earn Mansfield Plus Certification,” said Miller Canfield CEO Michael McGee. “We are happy that a growing number of firms in our home state and nationwide are joining us in working with Diversity Lab. We believe that programs like Mansfield help our profession as a whole to take specific action to promote diverse emerging leaders in the law.”
Data collected from Mansfield participating law firms demonstrates that the program not only diversifies candidate pools but also significantly increases representation of diverse lawyers in hiring and promotions to firm leadership positions. Miller Canfield’s progress with respect to the representation of women and minority attorneys bears this out. Specifically:
- 49% of Miller Canfield’s associates are women
- 40% of the firm’s non-equity principals are women
- 40% of managing directors are women
- 40% of resident directors are minorities and women
- 78% of the firm’s 2019 summer associate class were women
- 55% of 2019 summer associate class were minorities
Diversity Lab has also announced that it has launched an expanded version of the Mansfield Rule to include lawyers with disabilities as well as women, lawyers of color and LGBTQ+ lawyers as part of the diverse candidate pool. Ninety-nine firms including Miller Canfield have committed to adopting the rule. Miller Canfield has volunteered to join four top law firms in piloting an intensive data tracking process that measures consideration of individual demographic groups in each category.