We Will Continue: Read Hanson Bridgett’s Statement in Response to Diversity Lab’s Closure

Hanson Bridgett partner and CDEIO, Jennifer Martinez, addresses the closure of Diversity Lab and reaffirms our firm’s unwavering dedication to fostering equity within the legal profession.

Hanson Bridgett is deeply disappointed by the closure of Diversity Lab and by the broader campaign of attacks directed at it and other lawful DEI initiatives in the legal profession. Diversity Lab did not close because it engaged in wrongdoing. It closed because a small organization was forced to absorb the financial and operational strain caused by repeated government attacks, public insinuations, and the uncertainty those actions created for its clients and partners.

What makes this outcome especially troubling is that the pressure worked as intended: not by proving illegality, but by creating sufficient financial strain and a chilling effect to make continued operation untenable. DOJ and EEOC attacks produced no finding of wrongdoing, a federal judge affirmed Diversity Lab’s work as non-discriminatory, and yet the FTC’s public actions caused clients to pause, pushing the organization toward bankruptcy. That context matters. The legal profession still has significant work to do on diversity, particularly at the leadership and partnership levels. Diversity Lab helped law firms confront that reality with data, structure, and accountability. Mansfield Certification provided a practical framework to broaden access to opportunity by ensuring organizations consider a wider pool of qualified talent for leadership roles and advancement. It was about organizational health, transparency, and equal access — never quotas, preferences, or predetermined outcomes.

Hanson Bridgett will not respond with retreat or silence. We will continue — and where appropriate intensify — our efforts to build fair, transparent, and effective systems for recruiting, developing, and advancing talented lawyers. That work remains necessary, lawful, and aligned with the kind of profession we should all be working to build. Diversity Lab’s closing leaves a real void, but if the goal of these attacks was to chill progress, our response is the opposite: we will keep going.