The Women in Law Empowerment Forum is awarding McCarter & English its Gold Standard Certification for the fourth consecutive year. WILEF’s Gold Standard program certifies law firms that promote women into positions of top leadership and compensation and empower women within the legal profession.
Law firms with 200 or more practicing lawyers in the United States are eligible for the WILEF Gold Standard Certification if they successfully, objectively demonstrate that women represent a meaningful percentage of equity partners, participate in firm governance and compensation committees, and are among the firm’s most highly compensated partners.
Standards were elevated slightly for the 2014 certification, requiring firms to meet four or more of the following criteria: women account for at least 20% of equity partners or 25% or more of the attorneys becoming equity partners during the past twelve months, women represent at least 10% of firm chairs and office managing partners, women make up at least 20% of the firm’s primary governance committee, women represent 20% or more of the firm’s compensation committee, women make up at least 25% of practice group leaders or department heads, and women represent at least 10% of the top half of the most highly compensated partners. McCarter was one of very few firms to certify in five of the six certification categories, and one of even fewer to earn the certification four years in a row.