Verrill Remains a National Industry Leader for Gender Diversity
(November 11, 2020)– Verrill has once again been recognized as one of the top law firms in the country for female attorneys in Law360's annual Glass Ceiling report. Named a “Ceiling Smasher,” Verrill has the third highest percentage of women in its equity partnership in the country, as compared to firms of a similar size. The firm was also ranked ninth overall in its size category for the percentage of both female equity partners (39.6%) and female attorneys across levels (41.2%).
"Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is ingrained in our culture and dates back to the election of our first female Managing Partner almost three decades ago," explained K.C. Jones, Managing Partner at Verrill. “We are proud to pave the way for others in the legal industry and continue to search for ways to make our workplace more inclusive for all."
In 1992, Verrill elected Judith Coburn as the first female Managing Partner at the firm and in Maine, and in 2019 elected Regina Hurley as the first female Chair of the firm's Executive Board, which remains majority female-led today. In addition, women have been and continue to serve as leaders of various firm committees, departments, and administrative teams.
"We take diversity and inclusion seriously at our firm by providing mentoring and development opportunities for our members to succeed and ensuring our policies and practices foster an inclusive workplace where the voices of our members are heard,” said Jacqueline Rider, Chair of Verrill’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. “We actively support efforts to further diversity and inclusion both in our communities and the legal industry as a whole."
Recognizing law firms that are leaders in advancing equality at the top, the "Ceiling Smashers" list by Law360 focuses solely on the ratio of female equity partners to male equity partners. The overall “Glass Ceiling Report,” also released by Law360, looks at the representation of women at the equity partnership level and in the firm’s total attorney headcount. The lists are separated into five and four size categories respectively.
Verrill has been consistently recognized for its efforts in gender equality. Verrill was recognized as one of the top ten law firms in the country for gender equality by the National Law Journal in the 2018 "NLJ 500 Women's Scorecard," in addition to being named a 2017 and 2019 Law360 "Ceiling Smasher," and was ranked in Law360's 2016 and 2015 Glass Ceiling Reports.
