Responsible business strategy

Responsible business report 2024.

This year's report lays out our progress over the last 12 months, the challenges we have faced, and the priorities we have set for the year ahead.

How we do business

It is our responsibility to build a high-performance culture in our business which will lead to long term benefits for our clients and our people.

The last year has created many challenges, but also allowed for the adoption of new approaches to how we do business.

Throughout the last year, we have maintained a clear focus on our goals both in what we currently do as a firm, and how we can evolve and adapt to new market changes.

The aim of this year's report is for it to be more data-driven so we can really understand and demonstrate where we are progressing, but equally, where we need to improve. 

People

Our people are at the core of what we do. We have a strong record on our ED&I statistics, but still have plenty of work left to do.

We encourage continuous learning throughout our people's careers both professionally through our L&D programme, and in terms of cultural awareness through our nine ED&I networks.

Offering alternative routes into the legal profession ensures that our talent pool, quality of work, and culture can all be improved.

Social impact

A key part of our culture has always been to create social value. We do this by supporting communities, families, and the environment in every way we can.

Our approach to pro bono has always been rooted in a commitment to making a meaningful impact in our communities, fostering lasting relationships, and empowering those in need through dedicated support and expertise. We now have a dedicated pro bono committee led by Partner Hendrik Puschmann which aims to co-ordinate opportunities to give back.

We support many social mobility programmes which are closely tied to our ED&I ambitions. Through these, we aim to ease the barriers to entry into professions in the law industry.

Sustainability

As an international firm, we have a responsibility to address the ongoing climate crisis. We set ambitious targets to improve our environmental performance.

Our strategies to improve our race to net zero includes using a combination of energy efficiency, renewable energy, company cars, and our audio and visual equipment.

We have had a 55% decrease in our generated waste since FY19/20 and 71% of this is currently recycled, but we are looking for ways to improve these numbers.

Through detailed KPIs we can see the progress we have made in the last four years, but we are aware there is still more work to do.

There are big plans for this year, including achieving ISO 14001 certification, addressing our supply chain emissions, moderating business travel, and making our workspaces as sustainable as feasibly possible.

Client Service

This year we launched a dedicated Energy and Sustainability practice to advise on all aspect of energy transition from decarbonisation to renewables. Learn more about our Energy and Sustainability team.

We have worked as part of an industry and government group to create a new national Value Toolkit which aims to change the way the construction industry thinks about measures and value.

Additionally, we are taking a lead on climate-related legal risks whereby we are conducting searches to help clients understand any likely climate-related changes up to 60 years in advance as they plan their projects.