Responsible business

Raising funds and giving time to help others.

As a firm, we’re committed to providing a range of support to encourage our people to share their time, skills and talent to benefit the local community. Our dedicated Charity Committee champion engagement and lead volunteering and fundraising activity across the firm. To focus our efforts, we collaborate with community organisations working to tackle societal issues that are important to us. These are not necessarily the biggest and best-known charities, but organisations that we feel can make a difference. 

Each year, our people put forward such organisations that are close to their hearts and to our values to support through giving, fundraising and volunteering and the firm votes on who will be our annual Charity Partner.

Our Partner for 2024 is Trekstock, a not-for profit organisation supporting young people in the UK with a cancer diagnosis.

Cancer affects many families and many of us will have experienced the impact this disease has on those afflicted. There are many organisations dedicated to researching the causes of this or providing support for those with the disease. While this is fantastic, for people in their 20s and 30s, facing the curveball of cancer just when they are deciding on their future is a cruel twist of fate. The 14,600 individuals in this age bracket diagnosed with cancer each year are too old for childhood services and the youngest on adult wards by decades. The impact  of this is that they’re left without support recognising their unique needs, leaving them lost and isolated. Trekstock’s range of support services and resources helps to inform and connect their community and we are proud to support their efforts.

Our initiatives this year have ranged from sponsored walks, marathon running, quiz nights and bake-offs.

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Encouraging difference to build unity.

We work hard to ensure that everyone at our firm is treated fairly and equally, from our recruitment processes to career development, recognition and reward. As part of this initiative, the firm has agreed a target of 25% females in Directorship by 2026.

We have a wide-ranging programme to support our ambition. This delivers education and awareness raising campaigns throughout the year with a focus on LGBTQ+, race and ethnicity and encouraging greater gender balance in the workplace.

• The firm has created and runs The Gender Equality Network (GEN). This was created with the vision to accelerate the pace of change in achieving this. GEN’s mission is to provide the structure and resources for change, which in turn help women to feel empowered, supported and safe at work.
• While the focus of the GEN committee is mostly internal, the principles it has developed have also guided programmes developed to promote equality in some of the industry sectors in which we operate. For example, we have established the Women in Real Estate Finance and Women in Dispute Resolution networks that provide a platform for like-minded women to share experiences and learn from each other in what are generally accepted are male-dominated sectors.
• Other initiatives include the appointment of Allies Champions, who help to embed a speaking up culture across the firm and a broad learning curriculum, which includes respect at work and unconscious bias training.
• We have introduced a range of policies and processes to support our people and give them the flexibility they need to balance their work and home life.

Reducing, re-using and recycling.

While our physical footprint is relatively small, we continuously seek both direct and indirect opportunities to reduce our environmental impact. We consider energy and resource efficiency, waste management and reduction, sustainable travel and engagement with our suppliers and key stakeholders including our landlord.

• We seek to use less energy. Our office is fitted with motion-sensitive lighting sensors and energy-efficient light fittings. We use secure, centralised multifunctional devices with double-sided printing set as default as well as electronic document signing which help to reduce paper use.
• We seek to reduce business travel: Our agile working practices mean that there are fewer commutes and our use of office space is optimised. The use of video conference technology encourages more remote meetings which in turn helps reduce non-essential business travel, and our travel policy encourages use of public transport where possible.
• We seek to recycle where we can. We have recycling hubs in our offices for mixed recycling and confidential waste. We have removed all single-use plastic cutlery and cups from our kitchens.
• We seek to reduce our impact through our supply chain. We buy a range of goods and services to support our activities and actively work with suppliers who share the same values as we do. We also encourage innovation from them to help us achieve our environmental objectives.

Using our time and skills to create value for society.

We support equality of opportunity and access to justice by sharing our time and skills through volunteering and pro bono services.  To support this objective the firm provides all our people with a volunteer leave day that can be used to support charitable causes that are important to them.

Current pro-bono initiatives include:

• Our involvement in the Hertfordshire Law Clinic. This operates in conjunction with other law firms to improve access to justice by providing free legal advice to the local community. The clinic provides advice and assistance on a number of different issues including family, employment, intellectual property and commercial law as well as advising on powers of attorney and housing matters.
• Our appointment to the Sport Resolutions Pro Bono Service. Through this we seek to assist individuals of limited financial means before Sport Resolutions panels and other NGB tribunals.

Looking after yourself, so we can help others.

We foster an inclusive, values-driven culture with the development and wellbeing of our people at its centre. We seek to improve the productivity, morale and engagement of our people through the delivery of a wide ranging and varied programme.

• We have partnered with MYNDUP as our mental wellbeing partner to offer staff one to one, individual and confidential support. MYNDUP provides access to counselling, therapy and coaching for staff, as well as a wealth of resources on the Wellbeing Library.
• We have partnered with local gyms to offer free exercise classes for staff, from Reformer Pilates to boxing.
• We also have qualified Mental Health First Aiders spread across the firm who invite people to speak to them with any concerns.
• All our people are signed up to Healthshield, the health and wellbeing provider. This includes a range of services to proactively manage their health and wellbeing. Included are services such as 24/7 counselling and support helpline, face-to-face counselling and online health assessments.