In 2013, after many years working in large law firms and co-founding one of the first legal metrics start-ups, Caren Ulrich Stacy took time out to reflect on how she could bring together what she had done with what she had experienced to solve a problem that keeps knocking at her door – how do women who had left legal practice for a variety of different reasons, find their way back to it?

The answer was the OnRamp Fellowship, the first returnship program for law firms that later extended to legal departments. It grew into the Diversity Lab, an incubator for innovative ways of boosting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. The Lab ran a series of Women in Law Hackathons from 2016 – The Mansfield Rule was an idea from the first Hackathon that grew wings in US, Canadian and UK law firms and legal departments too. Named after the first woman lawyer in the US, Arabella Mansfield, its focus is on boosting and sustaining diversity in leadership and the pipeline to leadership. 

The Lab also subsequently established the Move the Needle initiative, a wonderful collaborative experiment between the Lab and four founding law firms, resourced over 5 years, the outcome being to produce empirical data (which will include a Report) about diversity and inclusion in hiring, retention and advancement. The Report, when released, promises to provide a tried and tested blueprint for advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal industry.

What Caren has accomplished with the Diversity Lab and these two amazing initiatives (of many) we discussed, is remarkable and outstanding! What’s also critically important is that the work and outcomes are supported, every step of the way, with data, data analysis, and metrics – they provide an empirical and quantifiable foundation that differentiates these initiatives from others and, tells a story that is both deeply personal but also objectively verifiable! 

Caren is the Founder & CEO of the Diversity Lab; the Founder of its On Ramp Fellowship; was recently appointed as the Lead Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility Advisor to the USPTO; holds roles with the UN Women initiative, and holds Fellowships at The College of Law Practice Management and the Tory Burch Foundation.

If you would prefer to watch rather than listen to this podcast, you’ll find the video here.

About the Future 50 Series

In the Future 50 Series we’re chatting with legalpreneurs who, through their ideas and actions, are challenging and transforming legal BAU all around the world.

If you would like to recommend people for this Series, please contact us at: CLI@collaw.edu.au.