Holland & Hart is proud to announce that for the ninth consecutive year the firm has received U.S. Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF). This year, 45 U.S. law firms were awarded Gold Standard Certification. Holland & Hart is one of only 11 firms to receive this recognition every year since WILEF began the award in 2011.
WILEF grants Gold Standard status to firms with 300 or more lawyers in the U.S. that meet objective criteria concerning the number of women among equity partners, in firm leadership positions, and in the ranks of their most highly compensated partners. The 2019 U.S. Gold Standard Certification was awarded to firms that meet the mandatory criterion that:
- 20% of U.S. equity partners or, alternatively, 33% of the attorneys becoming U.S. equity partners during the past twelve months are women. This year, 40 firms met or exceeded this standard.
and at least three of the following five criteria:
- 15% of firm and U.S. branch office heads are women
- 20% of the firm’s primary governance committee are women
- 20% of the firm’s compensation committee or its equivalent are women
- 15% of the top half of the firm’s equity partners in terms of compensation are women
- 7% of women equity partners are women of color or 3.5% of women equity partners are LGBT
Among the certified firms, the average percentage of women U.S. equity partners was 22.9%. Holland & Hart exceeds this benchmark with 29.5% female equity partners. Holland & Hart also exceeded the average percentage of women within the top half of U.S. equity partners in terms of compensation with 23.7%, compared to the WILEF certified firm average of 17.1%. In addition, 40% of Holland & Hart’s governance committee and compensation committee are women, compared to, on average, 30.8% of the members of the 2019 WILEF certified firms’ governance committees and 31.1% of their compensation committees.
Holland & Hart was also recently included on Law360’s Glass Ceiling Report, recognized as one of the best law firms for female partners on Law360’s “ceiling smashers” list of equity partnerships with the highest representation of women.
For more information, please see WILEF’s press release.