Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate social responsibility report 06/07 assurance statement

Looking ahead

Here we outline the key issues that we would expect future reports to cover. The materiality of the report would be improved if it provided a fuller description of Freshfields’ activities, its clients, the type of advice it gives and where it operates. This would support readers’ understanding of the firms’ key impacts, as well as provide the context for explaining its contribution to society as a law firm. Building on this, future reports should aim to describe how Freshfields’ CSR vision fits into the broader sustainable development agenda.

This year’s report has provided more information about the considerations Freshfields applies when taking on new clients and cases. In future such information could be strengthened by including evidence of how this has worked in practice, how lessons are learned and systems continually improved. Reports should also provide a more thorough illustration of how social and environmental considerations are taken into account regarding client work.

As we stated in our 2005 commentary, the report’s completeness would be enhanced by providing greater detail about Freshfields economic impacts, in particular how income generated through fees is distributed to employees (through salaries), governments (through taxes) and to suppliers of goods and services (through procurement spend). This would lend insights into the firm’s wider impacts as well as providing greater financial information, helping to meet expectations for increased financial transparency in the law sector. Some firms are increasing their disclosure having adopted Limited Liability Partnership status. In addition, the report should extend its coverage of how the firm engages with suppliers and regulators, two stakeholder groups whose issues are not addressed to the extent generally expected in CSR reports.

The report would reflect greater responsiveness if it included a greater diversity of stakeholder voices and concerns, providing a description of how stakeholder engagement processes feed into decision-making and the firm’s approach to managing both CSR and other core business issues. The work being done through the associates engagement group is a step in this direction and we look forward to Freshfields reporting the outcomes of this initiative.

Based on our assessment during this reporting period, we believe that more could be done to implement a systems-driven approach to managing CSR issues. This would help Freshfields to build on existing good practice and to strengthen consistency of application. Particular areas for attention include developing systems to assist efforts to help employees balance work and home commitments; for environmental data gathering and management; and for supplier engagement. Strengthening systems would also generate further performance data and support the setting of more measurable targets.

Having published a report that provides a good picture of Freshfields’ performance across a broad range of social and environmental impacts, we look forward to Freshfields focusing further on its material impacts as an international law firm.

The Corporate Citizenship Company