Commitments
Commitments
Responsible Business
Report 2025-26
4
Impact pillars
Our people · Our environment · Our community · Access to Justice
3
Multi-year strategic partnerships driving long-term impact
12
Active commitments in progress across all four pillars
6
New initiatives launched this year strengthening delivery
| Commitment | Target / timeframe | Commentary | Status |
| Environment | |||
| Remain carbon neutral | Ongoing | Registered as a carbon-neutral client with print partner Impress Print, who offsets the carbon impact of all commissioned printing via the World Land Trust, with annual certification provided. | New |
| Reduce the environmental impact of firm printing | Ongoing | Commitment to reducing overall printing and ensuring essential printing is carbon-neutral through the firm’s print partner. | On track |
| Maintain carbon-neutral or renewable electricity tariffs | Ongoing | Maintaining carbon-neutral or renewable tariffs for electricity across its offices. | On track |
| Improve energy efficiency across office locations | Ongoing | Introduced motion-sensor lighting, expanded LED lighting (including meeting rooms and staircases at Bedford Row). | New |
| Rolled out smart AV sensing power strips to reduce standby power use. | New | ||
| Replace gas boilers | By 2030 | Long-term commitment to replacing gas boilers, recognising constraints in buildings where the firm is not the landlord. | On track |
| Reduce water consumption | 2025–26 | Installed sensor taps in all Putney office toilets and fitted flow restrictors to showers to reduce water use and associated energy consumption. | New |
| Reduce waste and increase recycling | Ongoing | Firmwide recycling facilities for food waste, mixed recycling, coffee pods and batteries are well established and continue to be embedded. | On track |
| Eliminate single-use plastics where possible | Ongoing | Introduced refillable hand-soap dispensers. | New |
| Continued to review everyday consumables to improve sustainability profile. | On track | ||
| Ensure responsible procurement | Since 2025 | Embedding procurement policy across firm activities, with ongoing review of products and suppliers. | On track |
| Support local biodiversity | Ongoing | Maintaining Buckfast bee hives on the roof of the Putney office and pollinator-friendly planting to support urban biodiversity. | On track |
| Encourage sustainable commuting | Ongoing | Operating a Cycle to Work scheme through Cyclescheme, supported by collaboration with Fettle and the Russell-Cooke Cycling Club. | New |
| Promote an environmental culture of incremental change | Ongoing | Developing an environmental strategy that focuses on small, practical, measurable improvements supported by increasing staff awareness and engagement. | On track |
| Commitment | Target / timeframe | Commentary | Status |
| Access to justice | |||
| Maintain commitment to legal aid | Ongoing | Remaining one of few Top 100 UK law firms to hold a legal aid contract, described as a defining part of the firm’s identity. | On track |
| Support individuals affected by birth trauma | Since 2024; ongoing | Serving as a Trusted Legal Partner of the Birth Trauma Association, providing specialist and empathetic clinical negligence expertise. | New |
| Provide accessible legal advice through clinics | Introduced 2025; ongoing | Ran a legal clinic in collaboration with the Birth Trauma Association to provide advice and guidance to affected individuals. | New |
| Improve public understanding of gender equality law | Ongoing | Launched the Gender Equality Law Hub to provide accessible guidance following the Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers. | New |
| Make family court processes more accessible | Launched 2025 | Supported the launch of the West London Family Court Information website, a free public resource explaining family court procedures and support services. | New |
| Reduce non-financial barriers to justice | Ongoing | Focus on access to justice as including understanding, information and confidence, not solely legal representation. | On track |
| Commitment | Target / timeframe | Commentary | Status |
| People | |||
| Widen access to the legal profession through socially inclusive recruitment | Ongoing | 82% of the 2025 trainee cohort attended UK state schools, up from 56% in 2024, following redesigned recruitment processes. | On track |
| Ensure recruitment is fair and bias-aware | Ongoing | Applications assessed blind by a diverse, trained panel and supported by Rare Recruitment’s Contextual Recruitment System. | On track |
| Ensure internships are accessible regardless of financial means or background | Ongoing | All internships are paid and openly advertised to ensure access is not determined by financial background. | On track |
| Partnered with the 10,000 Black Interns Programme for the third year running. | On track | ||
| Support alternative routes to qualification | Introduced 2024 | Introduced a Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) pathway for legal assistants, funding SQE courses and exams. | New |
| Explore solicitor apprenticeships | Planned | Solicitor apprenticeships to be explored as a future pathway. | New |
| Foster an inclusive workplace for LGBTQ+ colleagues | Ongoing | Pride Month activity, inclusive policies, internal networks and awareness initiatives embedded into everyday practice. | On track |
| Support staff retention and progression | Ongoing | 83% of lawyers who qualified with the firm and would now be five years PQE or more remain at the firm. | On track |
| Commitment | Target / timeframe | Commentary | Status |
| Community | |||
| Operate a firmwide volunteering scheme | Ongoing | Firmwide volunteering scheme enables colleagues to contribute time and skills to a wide range of community initiatives. | On track |
| Support local and national charities through volunteering | Ongoing | Volunteers supported organisations. | On track |
| Encourage skills-based volunteering | Ongoing | Colleagues contributed professional skills such as grant drafting, IT support and administrative assistance. | On track |
| Engage trainees in fundraising and outreach | Ongoing | Trainee-led Fundraising and Outreach Committee organises events including the London Legal Walk, Macmillan Coffee Morning and Clothes Drives. | On track |
| Support charities through access to legal expertise | Ongoing | Long-standing partnership with the Ethical Property Foundation, providing free webinars, podcasts, property clinics and education. | On track |
| Build long-term community partnerships | Ongoing | Ethical Property Foundation partnership focuses on sustained knowledge-sharing and strengthening the voluntary sector. | On track |