Vorys One of Less than 30 US Law Firms to Earn Women in Law Empowerment Forum’s 2021 Gold Standard Certification
Vorys is pleased to announce that the firm has been named a 2021 WILEF Gold Standard firm. The Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) Gold Standard Certification is a key metric for assessing progress toward achieving greater gender equity in large law firms. Vorys also received the WILEF Gold Standard Certification in 2019 and 2020.
“Vorys is committed to gender equity and earned this designation due to the excellent contributions of our female attorneys throughout the firm,” said Vorys Managing Partner Michael Martz. “While the firm’s diversity and gender equity work is not done, we could not be more proud to have earned the WILEF Gold Standard Certification for the third consecutive year. This year we are particularly proud of this honor as the criteria for this certification has become more difficult for law firms to achieve.”
WILEF Certification emphasizes the leadership roles attained by women partners, rather than a firm’s policies or practices or overall number of women partners. In 2020, 48 US firms earned this certification. This year, the criteria to attain Gold Standard status was heightened and only 29 US-based law firms met the criteria. To earn the certification, firms had to satisfy both of the following two mandatory criteria:
- 25% of equity partners or, alternatively, 40% of the attorneys becoming equity partners during the past 12 months are women
- 10% of women equity partners are women of color or 4% of women equity partners are LGBT
and at least two of the following four criteria:
- 20% of the firm and U.S. branch office heads are women
- 25% of the firm’s primary governance committee are women
- 25% of the firm’s compensation committee or its equivalent are women
- 20% of the top half of the firm’s equity partners in terms of compensation are women
To learn more about the 2021 WILEF Gold Standard Certification, click here.