Responsible Business Report 2023
People
We continue to work towards fulfilling our commitment to increasing diverse talent at every level of our firm, with a focus on underrepresented groups for greater equity in career outcomes. A critical part of this is making sure that everyone acts on their responsibility to create an inclusive culture. Introducing new approaches to enhancing work-life balance and wellbeing at work to help our employees perform at their best are an important feature of our people strategy.
Supporting Black lawyers to navigate their careers
To increase the diversity of the legal sector and provide Black lawyers with opportunities to connect we sponsor the Black Counsel Forum, an annual conference for Black legal professionals.
Founded by solicitor Sharon Thomas, the event aims to be a safe space for Black lawyers to learn from each other by sharing lived experiences and best practices. Attendees are equipped with practical road-tested strategies and leadership programmes to help them navigate their careers successfully and network with experienced barristers and solicitors in the UK.
Catering for all levels from seasoned professionals to those just starting out on their careers, the conference features presentations and discussions from thought leaders on a range of topics including career planning, developing effective networks and strategies for achieving professional goals.
Inspiring, upskilling and equipping young people for the world of work
Social mobility is important to us. Our social mobility strategy is a key part of how we work to reduce inequalities within the legal sector, improve the diversity of candidates we recruit and retain the best talent. Check out the below film to find out more.
Promoting inclusive workplace behaviours
We strive to create an inclusive culture and recently rolled out a firmwide diversity and inclusion programme, Everyday Inclusion, enabling our people to feel empowered and equipped to ensure this.
Created in partnership with a team of psychologists and diversity and inclusion specialists at Half the Sky, Everyday Inclusion coaches people across all levels and areas of the business in what to say and do to “speak up” about non-inclusive behaviours and “call in” the contribution of colleagues who experience them.
By developing more fluency around inclusion, the programme invites everyone at the firm to take responsibility for building an inclusive and respectful working environment. The aim is to provide everyone with a space to learn and change behaviours when necessary.
Teams across the firm took part in facilitated workshops which were followed up with inclusion clinics to provide an opportunity to share experience and build the confidence to “speak up” and “call in”. In total, 79% of people across the firm have taken part in the programme.
Equipping our people to thrive with flexible working practices
We understand that it is important to adapt to the needs and circumstances of our people enabling them and the firm to succeed. That is why we have developed new and flexible ways of working, whilst continuing to offer our clients excellent service and career development opportunities for employees.
To support our lawyers in their roles we have introduced the job design pilot, which offers two flexible working arrangements: annualised hours/term working, with pre-agreed blocks of time out of the office spread across the year; and matter-based working, with a block of time taken off once a matter closes.
Additionally, we have introduced a working practices code for our fee earners to improve any unnecessary incursions people experience during their downtime with some simple principles to ensure a work life balance. We operate a 60:40 location flexibility pattern that enables our people to be in the office three days a week and work remotely two days. Individuals in Business Services have opportunities to take part in a range of adapted working patterns such as flexible hours.
Supporting Black lawyers to navigate their careers
To increase the diversity of the legal sector and provide Black lawyers with opportunities to connect we sponsor the Black Counsel Forum, an annual conference for Black legal professionals.
Founded by solicitor Sharon Thomas, the event aims to be a safe space for Black lawyers to learn from each other by sharing lived experiences and best practices. Attendees are equipped with practical road-tested strategies and leadership programmes to help them navigate their careers successfully and network with experienced barristers and solicitors in the UK.
Catering for all levels from seasoned professionals to those just starting out on their careers, the conference features presentations and discussions from thought leaders on a range of topics including career planning, developing effective networks and strategies for achieving professional goals.
Inspiring, upskilling and equipping young people for the world of work
Social mobility is important to us. Our social mobility strategy is a key part of how we work to reduce inequalities within the legal sector, improve the diversity of candidates we recruit and retain the best talent. Check out the below film to find out more.
Promoting inclusive workplace behaviours
We strive to create an inclusive culture and recently rolled out a firmwide diversity and inclusion programme, Everyday Inclusion, enabling our people to feel empowered and equipped to ensure this.
Created in partnership with a team of psychologists and diversity and inclusion specialists at Half the Sky, Everyday Inclusion coaches people across all levels and areas of the business in what to say and do to “speak up” about non-inclusive behaviours and “call in” the contribution of colleagues who experience them.
By developing more fluency around inclusion, the programme invites everyone at the firm to take responsibility for building an inclusive and respectful working environment. The aim is to provide everyone with a space to learn and change behaviours when necessary.
Teams across the firm took part in facilitated workshops which were followed up with inclusion clinics to provide an opportunity to share experience and build the confidence to “speak up” and “call in”. In total, 79% of people across the firm have taken part in the programme.
Equipping our people to thrive with flexible working practices
We understand that it is important to adapt to the needs and circumstances of our people enabling them and the firm to succeed. That is why we have developed new and flexible ways of working, whilst continuing to offer our clients excellent service and career development opportunities for employees.
To support our lawyers in their roles we have introduced the job design pilot, which offers two flexible working arrangements: annualised hours/term working, with pre-agreed blocks of time out of the office spread across the year; and matter-based working, with a block of time taken off once a matter closes.
Additionally, we have introduced a working practices code for our fee earners to improve any unnecessary incursions people experience during their downtime with some simple principles to ensure a work life balance. We operate a 60:40 location flexibility pattern that enables our people to be in the office three days a week and work remotely two days. Individuals in Business Services have opportunities to take part in a range of adapted working patterns such as flexible hours.
Planet
Our sector-leading emissions targets and external partnerships ensure we are integrating sustainability into our business strategy and that we use our skills and know how to drive change. This extends from our own operations to that of our suppliers, to supporting client transitions and providing support to develop world-class research, training and innovation.
Our partnership with the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance
We are a founding member of the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance which is a sector effort that recognises the urgent need to accelerate the transition towards net zero and how law firms and lawyers have a part to play. Watch our film below to find out more about how we are educating our lawyers on climate change issues and working with clients to address the challenges and opportunities climate change brings.
Collaborating with organisations to tackle climate change
We look to support organisations that are developing innovative solutions to address climate change such as Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment.
The Institute works towards a sustainable, resilient, zero-carbon future via its programme of world-class research, training, innovation support and societal engagement. These activities drive forwards discovery, convert innovations into applications, train future leaders and communicate academic knowledge to businesses, industry and policymakers to help shape their decisions.
We are founding members of their joint initiative with the Royal Institution, Undaunted, which focuses on enabling the successful creation and scale-up of business solutions to the climate challenge. Over the past 12 years, Undaunted startups have raised more than $1 billion in investment since 2012 and created over 1,500 jobs in 30 countries.
We also partner with Undaunted on our Fast Forward emerging tech incubation programme that supports the work of technology entrepreneurs and innovators. Through the partnership we share our market-leading expertise with new businesses and for a second year, the Fast Forward: Greenhouse Edition, is focusing on companies that are developing innovative solutions to address issues caused by climate change and working towards a more sustainable future. Businesses in this year’s cohort include DyeRecycle which uses green chemistry to recycle dye from textile waste and Kooling Technologies which is a digital platform that helps businesses, institutions and cities measure the emissions they emit through their mobility and transport activity.
Embedding sustainable practices in our supply chain
We are committed to creating a sustainable procurement programme to drive positive change through our supply chain. We seek to work with our suppliers to improve their performance in line with our own ambitions on climate, modern slavery, fair employment practices and diversity and inclusion.
The first phase of the programme has been to collect and analyse data from a sample of our suppliers to develop an understanding of their social and environmental profiles. The results were encouraging: 86% of respondents have a diversity and inclusion strategy, 70% pay a real living wage to their employees, 86% disclosed suggestions for collaboration to reduce environmental impact, and 65% are already taking steps to measure and track their carbon emissions.
Findings from the questionnaire have enabled us to identify key performance indicators for the sustainable procurement programme and share individual analysis with each supplier to highlight good practice, raise areas for engagement, and agree appropriate next steps. We will now be asking all our suppliers to complete the questionnaire on an annual basis and have integrated it into our process for new supplier onboarding and tenders. We have also strengthened the drafting in our standard forms of contract to ensure our supply chain’s social and environmental impacts are addressed, and we deliver practical training sessions to contract managers on this.
How we are reducing our food waste
For a number of years, we have been developing initiatives and rethinking our approach when it comes to sustainable consumption and a significant part of that is how we manage food waste in the UK.
Highlights of this work include:
- Reducing wastage in our staff restaurant and partners’ dining room through a tool called Chefs Eye which records weight, financial data and images of food waste. The information captured is then analysed and used to inform future productions and orders to ensure less wastage.
- Joining the Reclaim food scheme which reuses and repurposes under-utilised ingredients, waste and bi-products.
- Distributing any surplus pre-packaged food from our restaurant’s grab and go section once a week through Olio, a network that works with businesses and local communities to distribute food to charities working with people experiencing food poverty.
- Sharing leftover coffee grounds from our onsite coffee bar with staff to reuse for gardening purposes.
- Saving all used cooking oil which is collected by sustainable oil supplier Olleco who convert it into low carbon biodiesel.
Our partnership with the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance
We are a founding member of the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance which is a sector effort that recognises the urgent need to accelerate the transition towards net zero and how law firms and lawyers have a part to play. Watch our film below to find out more about how we are educating our lawyers on climate change issues and working with clients to address the challenges and opportunities climate change brings.
Collaborating with organisations to tackle climate change
We look to support organisations that are developing innovative solutions to address climate change such as Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment.
The Institute works towards a sustainable, resilient, zero-carbon future via its programme of world-class research, training, innovation support and societal engagement. These activities drive forwards discovery, convert innovations into applications, train future leaders and communicate academic knowledge to businesses, industry and policymakers to help shape their decisions.
We are founding members of their joint initiative with the Royal Institution, Undaunted, which focuses on enabling the successful creation and scale-up of business solutions to the climate challenge. Over the past 12 years, Undaunted startups have raised more than $1 billion in investment since 2012 and created over 1,500 jobs in 30 countries.
We also partner with Undaunted on our Fast Forward emerging tech incubation programme that supports the work of technology entrepreneurs and innovators. Through the partnership we share our market-leading expertise with new businesses and for a second year, the Fast Forward: Greenhouse Edition, is focusing on companies that are developing innovative solutions to address issues caused by climate change and working towards a more sustainable future. Businesses in this year’s cohort include DyeRecycle which uses green chemistry to recycle dye from textile waste and Kooling Technologies which is a digital platform that helps businesses, institutions and cities measure the emissions they emit through their mobility and transport activity.
Embedding sustainable practices in our supply chain
We are committed to creating a sustainable procurement programme to drive positive change through our supply chain. We seek to work with our suppliers to improve their performance in line with our own ambitions on climate, modern slavery, fair employment practices and diversity and inclusion.
The first phase of the programme has been to collect and analyse data from a sample of our suppliers to develop an understanding of their social and environmental profiles. The results were encouraging: 86% of respondents have a diversity and inclusion strategy, 70% pay a real living wage to their employees, 86% disclosed suggestions for collaboration to reduce environmental impact, and 65% are already taking steps to measure and track their carbon emissions.
Findings from the questionnaire have enabled us to identify key performance indicators for the sustainable procurement programme and share individual analysis with each supplier to highlight good practice, raise areas for engagement, and agree appropriate next steps. We will now be asking all our suppliers to complete the questionnaire on an annual basis and have integrated it into our process for new supplier onboarding and tenders. We have also strengthened the drafting in our standard forms of contract to ensure our supply chain’s social and environmental impacts are addressed, and we deliver practical training sessions to contract managers on this.
How we are reducing our food waste
For a number of years, we have been developing initiatives and rethinking our approach when it comes to sustainable consumption and a significant part of that is how we manage food waste in the UK.
Highlights of this work include:
- Reducing wastage in our staff restaurant and partners’ dining room through a tool called Chefs Eye which records weight, financial data and images of food waste. The information captured is then analysed and used to inform future productions and orders to ensure less wastage.
- Joining the Reclaim food scheme which reuses and repurposes under-utilised ingredients, waste and bi-products.
- Distributing any surplus pre-packaged food from our restaurant’s grab and go section once a week through Olio, a network that works with businesses and local communities to distribute food to charities working with people experiencing food poverty.
- Sharing leftover coffee grounds from our onsite coffee bar with staff to reuse for gardening purposes.
- Saving all used cooking oil which is collected by sustainable oil supplier Olleco who convert it into low carbon biodiesel.
Peace and Prosperity
We work with non-profit partners within our local and global communities to develop decent work opportunities for all, to facilitate the growth of new local business and to support access to justice for those who could not otherwise afford legal advice.
Ten years of supporting local entrepreneurs into business
In partnership with St Luke’s Community Centre and enterprise experts B Consultancy we deliver Firm Futures which aims to support local people who are not in permanent, full-time employment, to set up their own business. Through a series of monthly workshops and one-to-one support, the programme, which turned 10 in 2023, aims to build participants’ confidence and the skills needed to set up a business. Find out more about the programme below.
Providing pro bono legal advice to our local community
To help residents in our local community access legal advice, we provide financial donations and pro bono support to the Islington Law Centre (ILC). It is one of our longest running pro bono partnerships.
The ILC’s experienced solicitors and caseworkers provide essential advice and other legal services with the help of volunteers. The centre offers both in-person and telephone advice services, and each year supports over 1,000 clients.
Working with specialist supervisors, our employee volunteers participate in weekly, in-person legal clinics to advise individuals on a range of areas, including landlord and tenant disputes, housing disrepair and consumer law. In 2022-2023, residents booked over 250 appointments for the centre’s Evening Advice Clinic, which we assist with.
Building partnerships with non-profits
We provide ongoing pro bono legal advice to Love 21 Foundation, a non-profit in Hong Kong that empowers the Down’s syndrome, autistic, and neurodiverse communities to reach their full potential through sports, nutrition, and holistic support programmes.
Our Hong Kong office began working with Love 21 Foundation after being connected with them through Time Auction, which helps corporations find non-profits that need volunteer support. Since then, the team has provided legal advice to the organisation on a range of issues, including data privacy and property law.
Our partnership with Love 21 Foundation extends beyond legal advice. Following a fire at the non-profit’s premises, the team in the Hong Kong office ran fundraising campaigns to help the organisation get back on its feet.
Taking a proactive approach to modern slavery
We take our commitment to modern slavery seriously. As well as conducting our business in a lawful manner, we engage with our suppliers to support them with their responsibilities to ending modern slavery. We also publish an annual statement that describes the steps we have taken during the previous financial year and beyond to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in our supply chain or in any part of our own business.
To support our commitment, we provide training to our employees to raise awareness and provide a greater understanding of supply chain risks as they relate to the firm and our clients. An example of this is a firmwide session that was delivered by external exploitation corporate training specialist Stronger Together to address what is meant by modern slavery, the extent of the problem in the UK and globally and how the firm’s staff can spot the signs and use this knowledge in their role at work and day-to-day life.
Ten years of supporting local entrepreneurs into business
In partnership with St Luke’s Community Centre and enterprise experts B Consultancy we deliver Firm Futures which aims to support local people who are not in permanent, full-time employment, to set up their own business. Through a series of monthly workshops and one-to-one support, the programme, which turned 10 in 2023, aims to build participants’ confidence and the skills needed to set up a business. Find out more about the programme below.
Providing pro bono legal advice to our local community
To help residents in our local community access legal advice, we provide financial donations and pro bono support to the Islington Law Centre (ILC). It is one of our longest running pro bono partnerships.
The ILC’s experienced solicitors and caseworkers provide essential advice and other legal services with the help of volunteers. The centre offers both in-person and telephone advice services, and each year supports over 1,000 clients.
Working with specialist supervisors, our employee volunteers participate in weekly, in-person legal clinics to advise individuals on a range of areas, including landlord and tenant disputes, housing disrepair and consumer law. In 2022-2023, residents booked over 250 appointments for the centre’s Evening Advice Clinic, which we assist with.
Building partnerships with non-profits
We provide ongoing pro bono legal advice to Love 21 Foundation, a non-profit in Hong Kong that empowers the Down’s syndrome, autistic, and neurodiverse communities to reach their full potential through sports, nutrition, and holistic support programmes.
Our Hong Kong office began working with Love 21 Foundation after being connected with them through Time Auction, which helps corporations find non-profits that need volunteer support. Since then, the team has provided legal advice to the organisation on a range of issues, including data privacy and property law.
Our partnership with Love 21 Foundation extends beyond legal advice. Following a fire at the non-profit’s premises, the team in the Hong Kong office ran fundraising campaigns to help the organisation get back on its feet.
Taking a proactive approach to modern slavery
We take our commitment to modern slavery seriously. As well as conducting our business in a lawful manner, we engage with our suppliers to support them with their responsibilities to ending modern slavery. We also publish an annual statement that describes the steps we have taken during the previous financial year and beyond to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in our supply chain or in any part of our own business.
To support our commitment, we provide training to our employees to raise awareness and provide a greater understanding of supply chain risks as they relate to the firm and our clients. An example of this is a firmwide session that was delivered by external exploitation corporate training specialist Stronger Together to address what is meant by modern slavery, the extent of the problem in the UK and globally and how the firm’s staff can spot the signs and use this knowledge in their role at work and day-to-day life.
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