Senior partners’ statement

Our report, Corporate social responsibility: making a difference around the world, is an opportunity to assess how we are doing, on an international scale, in our commitment to being a socially and environmentally responsible business, and our aspirations to be an excellent employer and to have a positive impact on the communities where we work.

We aim to be a leader among the international law firms in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR), especially in our commitment to minimising our contribution to climate change and to rigorous, independently assured CSR reporting.

Using recognised benchmarks, our report covers a wider variety of activities and commitments that make up and influence our approach to CSR, explores how we have largely met the targets set in our first CSR report and describes our aims for the future.

We are committed to being a responsible business because it matters to us and the people who are important to us – particularly the people who work here. We also believe that improving our understanding and delivery of our social and environmental responsibilities is important to sustaining our success as a leading international law firm, and in improving our understanding of the local and international markets and communities we work in.

For our firm, success in CSR is being responsible, as well as profitable; taking a responsible approach to climate change and minimising our impact on the environment; being a good employer; and ensuring that we are attracting and retaining people from the widest possible pool of talent. For us, sustainability is also about investing in the future by helping to improve the skills and aspirations of young people and homeless people; working with our community partners to help identify and meet the needs of the communities where we work and the issues that are pertinent to us; and making a valuable contribution to promoting human rights and improving access to justice for people in need.

In 2006, we were the first major law firm to produce a CSR report. That report was mainly London-focused. As an international firm, we set ourselves the target of producing an international report and extending our CSR activities across our international network. We are proud to be producing our first firm-wide CSR report and look forward to producing more in the future. We have found it a useful and thought-provoking exercise, which we expect will lead to further improvements in the way we conduct our business.

• 
  
  Konstantin Mettenheimer
  Senior partner
• 
  
  Guy Morton
  Senior partner