WILEF Awards Shook Gold Standard Certification for Seventh Consecutive Year

Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. has been awarded the 2017 Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) for the seventh consecutive year. The Gold Standard Certification measures the progress law firms are making with integrating women into leadership roles.

In order to receive the WILEF certification, firms with 300 or more practicing lawyers in the United States must meet at least four of the following criteria:

• 20 percent of U.S. equity partners, or, alternatively, one-third of attorneys who became U.S. equity partners within the previous 12 months, are women;
• 15 percent of the heads of the firm and its U.S. branch office heads combined are women;
• 20 percent of the members of the firm’s primary governance committee are women;
• 20 percent of the members of the committee that determines equity partner compensation are women;
• 25 percent of U.S. practice group leaders/department heads are women;
• 15 percent of the top half of U.S. equity partners in terms of compensation are women; and
• 7 percent of U.S. women equity partners are women of color and/or 3.5 percent of them are LGBT.

For the seventh year, Shook has met all required criteria. Shook is one of 14 firms that have been awarded a Gold Standard every year since the award’s inception in 2011.

“Shook is honored to be recognized by WILEF for the seventh consecutive year,” said Shook Chair Madeleine McDonough. “We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of diversity and inclusion and will continue to empower our attorneys and inspire our leaders.”

Kori Carew, Shook’s Director of Strategic Diversity Initiatives, said, “This award is a timely recognition of Shook's intentional and strategic investment in engaging and advancing women. Creating an inclusive firm is critical to our success and this recognition is a welcome honor.”

WILEF Global Chair Elizabeth “Betiayn” Tursi noted the increase in results this year. “It demonstrates that women are an integral part of success in today’s challenging environment, which these firms recognize.”

The firm has recently been recognized for its diversity and inclusion achievements in the following: 

• The Coca-Cola Company, 2017 General Counsel Diversity Advancement Award.
• Human Rights Campaign, Corporate Equality Index.
• Working Mother Magazine, “50 Best Law Firms for Women.”
• Vault, “Best Law Firms for Diversity.”

About WILEF

WILEF is the premier organization for women from large law firms and corporate law departments in the United States. The Gold Standard Certification, launched in 2011, recognizes firms with meaningful percentages of women in leadership roles, rather than the policies or practices of the firm or the overall number or percentage of women in the partnership. www.wilef.com.