Munger, Tolles & Olson Earns Perfect Score on 2021 Corporate Equality Index
Munger, Tolles & Olson announced on Jan. 28, 2021 that it once again received a score of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2021 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the nation’s premier benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ workplace equality.
This is the sixth year in a row that the firm has earned a perfect score. Companies rated in the CEI include Fortune magazine’s 500 largest publicly traded businesses, American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue-grossing law firms (AmLaw 200), and hundreds of publicly and privately held mid- to large-sized businesses.
“From the previously unimaginable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, to a long overdue reckoning with racial injustice, 2020 was an unprecedented year. Yet, many businesses across the nation stepped up and continued to prioritize and champion LGBTQ equality,” said Alphonso David, Human Rights Campaign President. “This year has shown us that tools like the CEI are crucial in the work to increase equity and inclusion in the workplace, but also that companies must breathe life into these policies and practices in real and tangible ways.”
“In 2020, Munger Tolles reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring social justice, which includes the ongoing fight for LGBTQ equality,” says Co-Managing Partner Hailyn Chen. “We are proud of our history of inclusion, and we will continue to foster a community of inclusion for LGBTQ attorneys and professional staff and others more broadly, through our firm practices, our pro bono work and our community partnerships.”
The CEI rates companies on detailed criteria falling under four central pillars: non-discrimination policies; equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and their families; support for an inclusive culture; and corporate social responsibility. From representing LGBTQ asylum seekers to filing amicus briefs in various cases challenging school rules prohibiting transgender students from using bathrooms that match their gender identities and in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples at the U.S. Supreme Court, Munger, Tolles & Olson is a longtime champion of LGBTQ equality under the law.
Additionally, the firm is a strong supporter of LGBTQ equality and inclusion within its own walls. In 2018, the firm successfully implemented the Mansfield Rule and has achieved the highest designation, Certification Plus status, for three years in a row. This legal industry standard requires at least 30 percent women, attorneys of color, LGBTQ+ attorneys and attorneys with disabilities in more than half of our tracked leadership positions. In 2020, the firm also launched a gender inclusion initiative, which offered both educational training and support for adding personal pronouns to email signatures and other firm materials.
Munger, Tolles & Olson’s efforts in satisfying all of the CEI’s criteria earned a 100 percent ranking and the designation as one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality. Read the full report online at www.hrc.org/CEI.