Haynes Boone Participates in OnRamp200 Effort to Bring Women Lawyers Back to Legal Profession

Haynes Boone is among more than 35 law firms and legal departments that have joined forces with Diversity Lab’s OnRamp Fellowship to bring 200 women lawyers back to the legal profession by 2025. 

This collective industry effort, called OnRamp 200, connects leading legal organizations with experienced women lawyers who want to return to the practice of law after an extended hiatus from the workforce but face unique challenges due to the gaps in their résumés. 

More than 3 million women left the workforce in the last few years, with the pandemic exacerbating the exodus further. The OnRamp Fellowship is designed to replenish the talent pipeline in leading legal organizations with experienced women lawyers.

“We hear from so many talented women lawyers who want to return and are not able to find a path back into law,” said Caren Ulrich Stacy, founder of OnRamp Fellowship and Diversity Lab. “Especially now, law firms and legal departments cannot afford to overlook this talented pool of candidates. We are introducing this bold goal to bring back 200 women lawyers in the next several years to create a measurable, transparent, and collaborative framework that will keep us all accountable and make real progress on diversifying the legal profession’s leadership ranks.”

Initially launched in 2014, the OnRamp Fellowship matches experienced lawyers returning to the workforce with firms and legal departments for one-year, paid Fellowships. Diversity Lab has placed more than 95 Fellows—one-third of whom are attorneys of color—to date. Eighty-seven percent of Fellows have received full-time offers from legal organizations following the year-long program. Several former Fellows have already advanced into their firm’s partnership and leadership roles in legal departments.

Applicants for the OnRamp Fellowship are rigorously screened and matched with organizations based on the success traits that are essential for advancement into leadership. During their Fellowship year, Fellows receive career development support through training by specialists in negotiations, project management, business development, and leadership, as well as one-one-on coaching. In addition, Fellows have access to many of the legal field’s most renowned training resources, including the expertise of award-winning legal writing coach and author Ross Guberman, Practising Law Institute’s10,000+ hours of live and on-demand CLE programs delivered by the profession’s foremost experts, and Hotshot’s extensive digital legal/CLE and business education library.

Haynes Boone is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, California, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., London, Mexico City, and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in energy, technology, financial services, and private equity. With 600 lawyers, Haynes Boone is ranked among the largest U.S.-based firms by The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and The Lawyer. It was recognized for excellence in the BTI Consulting Group’s 2021 “A-Team” report, which identifies the law firms that in-house counsel commend for providing superior client service.