For the second consecutive year, Baker Donelson has been certified by the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) as a Gold Standard Firm.
WILEF's Gold Standard Certification emphasizes the leadership roles achieved by equity women partners, rather than the policies or practices of the firm or the overall number or percentage of women in the partnership. Law firms with 300 or more practicing lawyers in the United States are eligible for the 2016 WILEF Gold Standard Certification if they successfully demonstrate that women represent a meaningful percentage of their equity partners, of their highest leadership positions, of their governance and compensation committees and of their most highly compensated partners.
Baker Donelson was one of only 31 law firms across the country to earn this certification in a year when WILEF tightened some of the criteria that firms were required to meet in order to demonstrate their commitment to promoting and fairly compensating women.
Christy Tosh Crider, chairwoman of Baker Donelson's Women's Initiative and a shareholder in the Firm's Nashville office, said, "Baker Donelson is proud to have once again earned this certification, particularly given WILEF's enhanced criteria for inclusion. Just as WILEF has raised the bar, our Firm is committed to continuing to make strides to further the representation and leadership of women in the legal profession."