Robins Kaplan Achieves Mansfield 4.0 Plus Certification

Robins Kaplan LLP is pleased to announce that the firm has achieved Mansfield 4.0 Certification Plus status for 2021. The “Plus” status indicates that, in addition to meeting or exceeding the baseline certification requirements, the firm has successfully reached at least 30 percent underrepresented lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles.

The firm joins 117 other firms in completing this 12-month collaboration with Diversity Lab with built-in measurement, transparency, and accountability to help ensure increased diversity in law firms amongst lawyers with disabilities, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers of color. This is the third year that the firm has participated in the program.

“It is personally rewarding to work for a firm with a clear and demonstrable commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Rita Holmes-Bobo, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “We look forward to achieving more diversity-related measurable results for our attorneys and staff moving forward.

“We are proud to once again achieve Mansfield Certification,” said Robins Kaplan Managing Partner Steve Schumeister. “In a year filled with ongoing challenges related to the pandemic, we have shown that our steadfast commitment to diversity and inclusion doesn’t waiver and we continue to raise the bar for ourselves with the addition of the ‘Plus’ status.”

The Mansfield Rule was launched in 2017 by Diversity Lab in collaboration with Bloomberg Law and Stanford Law School. It was named for Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to the practice of law in the United States. The initiative was inspired by the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires every NFL team to interview at least one person of color for head coach vacancies. In the years following its implementation, the league doubled the number of head coaches of color who were hired. Robins Kaplan adopted a Rooney Rule for lateral associate positions in 2016 and in the following year, the firm increased its hiring of attorneys of color by 30 percent and LGBTQ attorneys by 13 percent.

You can find more about the results and findings from Mansfield 4.0 here.