Quarles & Brady Earns Four-Peat WILEF Gold Standard

MILWAUKEE, WIS. (June 19, 2014) — The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP today announced that it has achieved Gold Standard Re-Certification by the Women in Law Empowerment Forum for the fourth straight year. Forty-five firms are included on this year’s list, an increase from last year’s list of forty-two firms.   

“It’s an honor to the firm to receive WILEF certification for the fourth year in a row,” said Janine M. Landow-Esser, chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee. “Certification showcases Quarles & Brady as a firm with strong women leaders, including multiple women on our Executive Committee, running our offices and leading client teams. Of course, Quarles is one of just a few large law firms with a woman chair, Kimberly Leach Johnson.”

Gold Standard Certification emphasizes the leadership roles achieved by 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 200 or more practicing lawyers in the United States were eligible if they successfully demonstrated that women represented 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. To be certified, firms had to meet at least four of the six criteria: 

♦ Women account for at least 20 percent of equity partners or, alternatively, 25 percent or more of the attorneys becoming equity partners during the past 12 months.

♦ Women represent at least 10 percent of firm chairs and office managing partners.

♦ Women make up at least 20 percent of the firm’s primary governance committee.

♦ Woman represent 20 percent or more of the firm’s compensation committee.

♦ Women make up at least 25 percent of practice group leaders or department heads.

♦ Women represent at least 10 percent of the top half of the most highly compensated partners.

The firm met five out of the six criteria.

About WILEF 

Founded in 1997 by Elizabeth Anne “Betiayn” Tursi, with the support of R.R. Donnelley and several successful senior women attorneys, and subsequently of law firm and corporate sponsors, WILEF  is dedicated to assisting women in law to assume leadership roles within the NLJ 250 and Fortune 1000 legal departments and within their respective communities. WILEF presents cutting edge programming that provides an educational and networking forum for women in law.

About Quarles & Brady LLP

Quarles & Brady LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 475 attorneys practicing from offices in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Naples and Tampa, Fla.; Chicago, Ill.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Madison and Milwaukee, Wis.; and Washington, D.C. The firm provides an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients, which range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies. Additional information about the firm may be found at www.quarles.com, and on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.