Shook Earns WILEF Gold Standard Certification For Tenth Year

For the tenth year in a row, Shook, Hardy & Bacon has earned the Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF). WILEF grants the certification to major law firms that meet objective criteria for the number of women equity partners, the number in firm leadership positions and among the ranks of the most highly compensated partners. Shook is one of only 12 firms worldwide that has received Gold Standard Certification every year since WILEF began the award in 2011. 

“Given the lockdown, we are so happy to see that the number of US firms increased by three from last year at this time. Eight UK firms met the Gold Standard—only one down from last year,” said Elizabeth “Betiayn” Tursi, WILEF’s Global Chair.

The criteria includes the following metrics:

  • Women are 20% of equity partners; or
  • 33% of attorneys becoming equity partners in the last 12 months were women;

and at least three of the following are met:

  • 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;
  • 10% of women equity partners are women of color, or 4% of women equity partners are LGBTQ.
Earlier this month, The National Law Journal reported that Shook ranked 23rd on the publication’s scorecard for women partners, up from 34th in 2019, an 11 point positive change within one year that placed Shook in the Top 25 Law Firms of the Women’s Scorecard 2020. In the U.S. Female Minority Partners Among the Top 25, Shook had a total of 12 female minority partners, with the percentage of partners who are women. In all, 265 of the country’s 350 largest firms by head count reported data for the scorecard.