International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP announced today that it has once again received Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF). WILEF Certification is the only initiative directed toward certifying, publicly recognizing and broadly publicizing eligible law firms that have integrated women into the highest leadership positions in the firm.
Law firms with 300 or more practicing lawyers in the United States are eligible for the 2016 WILEF Gold Standard Certification if they successfully demonstrate that women represent a meaningful percentage of their equity partners, of their highest leadership positions, of their governance and compensation committees and of their most highly compensated partners. Only 35 firms nationally have qualified for this recognition to date in 2016. Dorsey was previously certified as WILEF Gold Standard in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
“We are pleased that the Women in Law Empowerment Forum has once again chosen Dorsey to be Gold Standard-certified,” noted Ken Cutler, Managing Partner of Dorsey & Whitney LLP. “We are committed to the advancement of women within the Firm and throughout the legal profession.”
WILEF’s Gold Standard Certification, a program now in its sixth year, became harder to obtain following the decision to tighten some of the criteria that firms must meet to demonstrate their commitment to promoting and fairly compensating women.
“It's an honor to be awarded with this prestigious certification, again, and it is testament to our culture of supporting women as leaders,” said Sandra Edelman, a member of the Firm’s Management Committee and a Partner in the Trademark, Copyright, Advertising & Brand Management Group. “Gender equity is among the Firm’s longstanding priorities and we are proud of what we have accomplished, but recognize the advancement of women in the law is a long-term process.”