Corporate Social Responsibility
Embedded in our values
As a major business and employer in the UK we are committed to active and progressive corporate citizenship. Established in 1810 we have always been very much part of the 'fabric' of each of the communities in which we operate. Our commitment goes beyond geographic boundaries and includes contributions to market sectors and professional communities operating nationally.
We make donations to a diverse range of national and local charities and we are always willing to consider new projects and collaborations.
This year a charity will be nominated as our firmwide primary charity to coincide with Capital of Culture's designated theme for 2006 as the year of performance. Last year's chosen charity was the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, linking in to the Capital of Culture's 2005 theme, year of the sea.
As a firm we recognise the importance of engagement and active citizenship and we strongly encourage staff to take up school governorships, trusteeships, non-executive directorships, and voluntary and honorary roles with charities and community projects.
Community Project Team
As Official Lawyers and first Official Partner to Liverpool 2008: European Capital of Culture we have a capital of culture community project team which is dedicated to encouraging staff to become more involved in community and charitable projects. Within the community team there are several sub committees focussing specifically on charity, community projects and related initiatives.
Carbon Zero Status
As a large law firm we recognise the importance of the environment and our effect on it and the part we can play in maintaining and improving it.
As a result we are currently working on a new scheme where we will plant over a thousand trees in order to become “CarbonZero”. Working with environmental company co2balance.com we are finding out the size of our “carbon footprint”, and then planting trees to counter this, as trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide.The scheme will create a new woodland in the North of England.
A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon an individual or company creates every year and includes electricity and car usage, as both produce carbon dioxide - the major contributor to climate change.