Stoel Rives Receives Women in Law Empowerment Forum Gold Standard Certification

PORTLAND, Ore.—Stoel Rives LLP is pleased to announce it received the Women in Law Empowerment Forum’s (WILEF) 2022 Gold Standard Certification. This marks the 11^th year the firm has made the select list, with Stoel Rives listed as one of just 32 U.S. firms to be honored with the certification this year.

“We are proud to once again receive WILEF’s Gold Standard recognition, which utilizes measurable data to showcase that we don’t just talk the women empowerment talk, but we walk the walk,” Karen O’Connor, chair of Stoel Rives’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, said. “Stoel Rives maintains a longstanding reputation for fostering and promoting an inclusive environment that supports professional development and advancement for all, and we appreciate benchmarks such as these that hold us to our word.”

WILEF grants Gold Standard status “to major firms 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.” This year, to receive Gold Standard Certification, firms must have satisfied the mandatory criteria displaying that: 25% of equity partners are women or, alternatively, 40% of the attorneys becoming equity partners during the past 12 months are women; and 10% of women equity partners are women of color or, alternatively, 4% of women equity partners are LGBTQ.

The firms must also have met two of the following criteria: 20% of 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; or 20% of the top half of the firm’s equity partners in terms of compensation are women. Stoel Rives is one of just 19 firms to meet all six of these criteria this year.

Stoel Rives’ additional diversity-focused honors include being one of the founding law firms of Diversity Lab’s Move the Needle Fund and achieving Mansfield Plus 4.0 Certification.