UCLI Certification Program Overview

One of UCLI’s objectives is to provide Utah’s legal employers, businesses, and other organizations with the tools necessary to tackle the existing and future hiring, retention, advancement and inclusion challenges for women and other diverse attorneys. To that end, UCLI has developed a UCLI Certification Program.

Through the Certification Program, UCLI will strive to do each of the following to benefit the legal profession and Certification Program participants:

  • Develop effective strategies, methods, policies, standards, and practices for best advancing organizational diversity and inclusion;
  • Assist businesses and employers with attracting and retaining diverse talent;
  • Obtain and analyze the data concerning the state of diversity and inclusion in Utah in order to track the progress of Utah’s legal profession;
  • Provide, upon an organization’s request, the organization’s diversity/inclusion record and UCLI Certification to potential clients that seek businesses in Utah that are committed to diversity and inclusion; and
  • Host consultations, training and workshops to organizational leadership/management and internal groups on implicit bias, cultural competency and other inclusion efforts.

Benefits of UCLI Certification*

Benefits of UCLI Certification include the opportunities to:

  • Increase diversity and inclusion within your workplace and become more innovative and competitive as a result;
  • Access the most effective strategies, methods, policies, standards, and practices for best advancing D&I;
  • Improve your ability to recruit and retain top diverse talent and to attract clients who seek diverse representation;
  • Demonstrate your commitment to D&I to those within and outside your organization with this objective, credible, and respected statewide certification.

* Completion of the Certification Program Criteria does not guarantee the realization of these benefits by the organization.

How to Become UCLI Certified in 2024

By enrolling in UCLI’s 2024 Certification Program, an organization commits to doing each of the following by December 31, 2024*:

1) Update or maintain a UCLI Representative from your organization’s leadership as primary UCLI contact.

2) Set and work towards an internal goal, completing all steps listed below:

  • a) Q1: By March 31, 2024 report the draft goal here. (See examples of previous goals set by Certification Program participants here.)
  • b) Q2-Q3: Have at least one person from your organization’s leadership attend at least one CLE training offered by UCLI.
  • c) Q4: By December 31, 2024 complete progress report on the internal goal here.

3) Sponsor UCLI or a UCLI Event, or host/volunteer at a UCLI related event or program. See 2024 opportunities for sponsorship here or contact to learn more about volunteer opportunities.

4) Complete the annual UCLI Survey to assist UCLI in tracking the progress of Utah’s legal profession on DEI issues (confidential reporting permitted). Complete the 2024 survey here.

UCLI's Tracking Progress Efforts

Each year, UCLI analyzes aggregate, anonymized data from the UCLI Certification Program Survey to better understand the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in Utah’s legal profession as a whole. For an in-depth look at diversity, equity, and inclusion in Utah’s law firms as of 2020, check out the report, “Looking In & Leading Out: Key Findings on Diversity from the UCLI 2020 Certification Program Survey,” produced by the SJ Quinney College of Law Justice Lab in collaboration with UCLI.

UCLI Business Council

UCLI’s mission is also supported by a group of in-house counsel who serve on a recently formed UCLI Business Council.  The founding members of the Council include in-house representatives from national and local companies and organizations, including but not limited to: Ebay Inc., O.C. Tanner, Larry H. Miller Group – Automotive, Rocky Mountain Power, Vivint Solar, 1800 Contacts, Mustang Development, Instructure, Zions Bank, Ivory Homes, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDC Utah, Pluralsight, Backcountry, Adobe, Dealersocket, U.S. Ski & Snowboard and others.

UCLI looks forward to working with Utah firms and other organizations on these joint efforts.  For any questions or to get involved, please email us at .