CN is pleased to announce that the Diversity Dividends Collective (DDC), of which CN is an inaugural member, has been recognized by ALM’s Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards 2023 as a finalist in the “ESG Enablement Through Technology” category. The nomination recognizes successful initiatives that advance environmental, social, and governance causes within an organization or for the broader good, through the use of technology.
More than 40 legal departments, including CN's, participate in DDC, a first-of-its-kind collective designed and initiated by Diversity Lab to propel the inclusion, equity, and diversity of legal departments’ outside counsel teams — broadening the scope of underrepresented lawyers at law firms who have access to high-quality work, regularly interact with in-house counsel, and receive credit for originating client work. The Collective’s goals are threefold:
To hold the members of the Collective accountable to take action on the data collected to propel law firms’ progress toward becoming more inclusive and diverse.
To hold law firms accountable for advancing inclusion on outside counsel teams by giving more work to those that do, and less work to those that don’t.
“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are core values at CN. I am extremely proud that our Law Department joined DDC and has also achieved Mansfield Rule for Law Departments 2.0 Certification. Our certification means that our Law Department has put concrete, transparent measures in place that bring rigor to our existing efforts to move the needle on DEI. We also took measurable steps to ensure the external counsel we engage share our values as a company. As a result, we have deepened our commitment to fostering a culture where differences are valued and make us stronger as a Law Department. We have now registered for Mansfield Rule for Law Departments 3.0 Certification to further embed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in our Law Department’s strategy and operations."
- Jody Evely, Assistant Vice President, and General Counsel – U.S., CN
Diversity Lab facilitated DDC Collective members’ requests to collect data from their top law firms on five metrics to evaluate their DEI performance. Nearly 90% of the firms that received requests completed the assessment, and the resulting data was passed on to their clients via an interactive dashboard. The combined effort included more than 250 law firms, reached more than 450 outside counsel teams, and impacted more than 10,000 lawyers. The Collective continues to gather important aggregate information that will be shared with the profession to set important benchmarks for inclusion on outside counsel teams.
