Carlton Fields Earns Perfect Score in Corporate Equality Index for 10th Consecutive Year

Firm Also Marks 20 Years of Offering Domestic Partner Benefits
 
For the 10^th year in a row, Carlton Fields earned a perfect score of 100 percent on the 2019 Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), designating the firm as a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality.” The rating recognizes the firm’s LGBTQ-friendly policies and practices and its devotion to workplace equality. This year also marks the 20^th anniversary of the firm extending benefits to employees’ domestic partners.
 
“Carlton Fields has shown a commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout the firm’s nearly 120-year history,” Chief Diversity Officer Nancy Faggianelli said. “We are truly honored to be recognized by HRC for a 10^th year. As we celebrate key milestones in our diversity efforts, we are also looking to the future. We are always considering new ways to ensure we maintain a welcoming and equitable work environment for employees from all backgrounds.”
 
The 2019 CEI evaluates LGBTQ-related policies and practices including non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, competency programs, and public engagement with the LGBTQ community. Carlton Fields was one of 114 law firms in the country who earned a 100 percent rating.
 
Over the years, Carlton Fields has often implemented inclusive policies that were not yet the norm at most businesses, including the extension of domestic partner benefits in 1999. The firm’s diversity initiatives include several networking groups (LGBT, Minority, and Women) that have impacts within the firm, legal profession, and its communities.
 
“The top-scoring companies on this year’s CEI are not only establishing policies that affirm and include employees here in the United States, they are applying these policies to their global operations and impacting millions of people beyond our shores,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Time and again, leading American businesses have shown that protecting their employees and customers from discrimination isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s also good for business.”
 
In addition to this ranking, Carlton Fields has received additional honors this year for its commitment to diversity. The firm was ranked as 14^th in the country for “Overall Diversity” in the 2019 Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms, which also listed the firm as 15^th in “Diversity for Minorities,” 11^th in “Diversity for Disabilities,” 21^st in “Diversity for LGBT,” and 20^th in “Diversity for Women.” Carlton Fields ranked 2^nd in “The Best Law Firms for Minority Partners” for firms with 300 to 599 attorneys in Law360’s 2018 “Diversity Snapshot,” and 5^th in “The Best Law Firms for Female Equity Partners” in Law360’s 2018 “Glass Ceiling Report.”