When the Human Rights Campaign released its 2014 Corporate Equality Index last month, 81 Am Law 200 firms (and Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance) earned perfect scores thanks to the policies they have in place related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees—up from the 71 that earned the distinction last year and double the number that rated so well in 2008. Another 37 firms from either the Am Law 200 or Global 100 rankings achieved scores of 90.
The gains large law firms have made on the HRC index—which rates employers on a 100-point scale and considers issues such as whether the insurance coverage companies provide employees covers same-sex partners and transgender individuals, while also rewarding employers for their public support of LGBT groups and equality laws—mirror those made across the broader corporate universe since the gay rights group first launched the workplace survey. Only 13 businesses surveyed for HRC’s first index, in 2002, earned perfect scores. This year, 304 of the 931 employers polled fell into that category. (British advocacy group Stonewall recently released its own annual ranking of the top 100 U.K. employers for LGBT staff, its list named 10 law firms, including three members of The Am Law 100: Baker & McKenzie, Hogan Lovells and Norton Rose Fulbright.)
