Axiom is excited to announce that its legal department has won the Mansfield Implementation as a Foundation for Growth Award. This award is granted to the legal department with 10 or fewer in-house lawyers that has been the most successful in building the foundational principles of Mansfield into the structure of its processes, as a foundation for potential growth. Mansfield Rule is a certification program by Diversity Lab whose goal is to boost and sustain diversity in leadership through science-based methods.
“The Mansfield Certification program has been a wonderful value-add to Axiom’s ongoing commitment to DEI,” Catherine Kemnitz, Chief Legal Officer at Axiom, shared. “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.”
As part of Axiom’s commitment to ongoing DEI efforts, its team pledges to consider at least 50% diverse candidates for leadership roles and outside counsel representation.
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Axiom also recently released its 2022 Diversity Snapshot. Approximately a third of Axiom’s lawyer bench identify as racial or ethnic minorities, compared to 19% of the total U.S. population of lawyers. Only 19% of those working at all U.S. law firms and 20% of those working for Big Law identify as racial or ethnic minorities. Axiom’s lawyer population includes significantly more lawyers who identify as women (53%) than the total population of lawyers (38%), lawyers at law firms in aggregate (38%), and lawyers at the nation’s largest firms (38%), too.
“The results of our 2022 Diversity Snapshot demonstrate that while we still have opportunities for improvement when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, we are on the right path,” added Kemnitz. “Not only are we committed to enhancing DEI efforts within Axiom itself, but also within every legal department we touch.”
Participation in the Mansfield Certification complements Axiom’s other ongoing DEI efforts. For the second year in a row, Axiom was named one of the “Best Places to Work” for LGBTQ inclusion, receiving a 100% for LGBTQ employees from the Human Rights Campaign. Axiom’s Pro Bono Net partnership allows Axiom lawyers the opportunity to provide access to legal assistance in underserved communities, and the company’s innovative, flexible employment model helps empower lawyers through flexibility and choice, establishing the company as a workplace committed to inclusion.
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