National law firm Kutak Rock LLP has won recognition from two of the most comprehensive law firm diversity indexes for its workplace environment that hires more females, promotes more women to partner and retains more female attorneys than most others in the country. Above the Law, the news outlet known for providing a behind the scenes look at law firms, partnered with NavForward in scoring Kutak Rock with an “A” grade for gender diversity in 2016. National Law Journal (NLJ) matched the accolades, ranking the Omaha-based firm among its best 10 percent.
Above the Law and NavForward calculated Kutak Rock’s “A” grade based on data collected from 1,200 law firms. The dataset is 99 percent accurate, resulting in the most comprehensive law firm study of its kind, inside or outside the legal industry. NavForward uses the multiple data points to measure law firm performance in the areas of gender diversity, partner promotion opportunities, and a firm’s value proposition.
“Kutak Rock's A-rating means it’s like a ‘super firm’ for women, indicative of rare firm-wide leadership,” says Neil Aggarwall, founder, NavForward. “It indicates Kutak Rock is within the top 25 percent of all law firms in terms of gender diversity, with 51 percent female associates and most notably 30% percent female partners—a full 33 percent above the mean. We at NavForward commend Kutak Rock on a job well done.”
Supporting these high marks in gender diversity, the NLJ Women in Law Scorecard also ranked Kutak Rock among the top 10 percent of 350 law firms it surveyed this year. NLJ bases its rankings on the percentage of female attorneys as well as female partners within each firm.
In recent months, Kutak Rock has been named to Law360’s “100 Best Law Firms for Female Attorneys" as well as The American Lawyer’s “Women Partner Watch Honor Roll," which recognizes law firms with strong records for promoting women to partnership.
“Our founders set the bar high when our doors opened over 50 years ago,” added David Jacobson, chairperson, Kutak Rock. “They purposefully sought out diverse attorneys and staff members, creating what we feel is a wonderful platform free of barriers for doing important work. We’ve been rewarded with accolades for five decades. Two more indexes show we’re creating the right environment internally, but more importantly we’re able to deliver our clients impeccable service from diverse perspectives.”
A pioneer at improving diversity in many areas across the legal profession, Kutak Rock has included gender identity and sexual orientation in its equal employment opportunity policy long before most other firms and, since 2000, offered insurance benefits to domestic partners. The firm also is well-recognized as a pioneer for recruiting women, having received national merit for its number of women partners in the 1970s and 1980s, and for its policies and practices embracing minorities, veterans and people with disabilities.
Kutak Rock has approximately 500 lawyers in 18 nationwide locations and conducts a diversified practice in corporate law and corporate finance, litigation, public finance, real estate, health care, structured finance, banking, bankruptcy, insurance, technology law, antitrust, tax, tax credits, environmental law, labor and employment law and employee benefits law. The firm has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Fayetteville, Irvine, Kansas City, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Philadelphia, Richmond, Rogers, Scottsdale, Spokane, Washington, D.C. and Wichita.