Atlanta -Ford & Harrison LLP, a national labor and employment law firm, is pleased to announce that the firm has qualified for the Women in Law Empowerment Forum's (WILEF) Gold Standard Certification — 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.
WILEF invited more than 300 firms with 100 or more attorneys to apply for the certification, and 32 firms met the criteria. The certification process went beyond simply looking at the percentage of women employed at law firms. It focused on whether they are represented in positions of power and among the top-earning attorneys.
To be certified, firms had to meet at least three of the six criteria:
• Women account for at least 20% of equity partners.
• 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.
• Woman represent 20% or more of the firm's compensation committee.
• Women make up at least 25% of practice group leaders or department heads.
• Women represent at least 10% of the top half of the most highly compensated partners.
"We are honored to receive the Gold Standard Certification by the Women in Law Empowerment Forum," said Dawn Siler-Nixon, Ford & Harrison's Diversity and Inclusion Partner. "We are proud of our diversity programs and it's very rewarding to see that our efforts and accomplishments are being recognized."
About Women in Law Empowerment Forum
The Women in Law Empowerment Forum's vision is to create a dialogue for the purpose of educating women in law firms on how to become leaders in the workplace and in the community by building, exercising and implementing a strong sense of empowerment. For more information, visit www.wilef.com.