Honor Roll - ChIPs

Diversity & Inclusion Blueprint

The ChIPs Diversity & Inclusion Blueprint Survey, a joint initiative with Diversity Lab, measures gender diversity in law firm leadership as well as the work experiences of women at the practice group level, with a particular focus on intellectual property.

Not Your Typical Diversity Survey

The survey is different from traditional diversity surveys, as it goes beyond just measuring headcount. In addition to assessing the overall representation of women in leadership, the survey asks if firms are actively monitoring and measuring their lawyers’ work activities and experiences, such as work allocation, leave, sponsorship, client pitches, and other critical development and advancement opportunities. The purpose is to ensure that diverse lawyers, specifically women, have equal access to these opportunities and to interrupt any unconscious biases that may exist within firms’ practices or structures.

“Law firms must do more to develop a deep bench of diverse leaders and to create cultures where women can gain meaningful experiences in IP, a speciality that has persistently lagged in diversity of all types. An important step is tracking the data and work experiences.”

Noreen Krall, ChIPs Co-Founder and Board Chair

Firm Participation & Recognition

The ChIPs Inclusion Blueprint Survey is conducted annually and is open to AmLaw 200 firms by invitation.

The survey asks questions across three main categories:

Gender representation in leadership
Inclusion activities and tracking at the leadership level
Inclusion activities and tracking in the IP group

Responses are scored using a binary approach. Top scoring firms have a unique opportunity for exposure to, and feedback from, senior in-house counsel at top legal departments across the country. The two highest scoring firms across all categories will also receive the ChIPs Honor Roll designation and special recognition at the ChIPs Global Summit.

Data Collection and Results Survey data is collected and analyzed by Diversity Lab’s team of data experts. Participating firms are offered aggregate insights about their individual results only.

“This initiative has the potential to become the industry’s inclusion measurement standard, with the IP groups in law firms as the trailblazers and role models for all other practices.”

Caren Ulrich Stacy, CEO of Diversity Lab