Integrating CSR and CSR reporting

Our partnership secretary, Crispin Hain-Cole, is responsible for co-ordinating and driving our corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies forward, with direction from our senior partners, Konstantin Mettenheimer and Guy Morton, and chief executive Ted Burke.

Topic	Progress in 2007/2008	Targets & commitments 2009/2010
Reporting	This is our third CSR report. It is international in scope and reports on our progress in the 2007/2008 financial year, as well as covering activities since then. In 2005 we were the first law firm to produce an externally reviewed CSR report. Our 2006/2007 report was the first assured international CSR report by a major law firm.	Continue to report annually on our progress with an externally assured international report for 2009/2010. Continue to use recognised external benchmarks in our reporting.
Data collection	Our 2007/2008 CSR report contains extensive updates in the following sections: our people and diversity; environment and climate change; and community and pro bono.	Continue to update our data on an annual basis and report on key initiatives and activities. Continue to improve data collection systems for more consistent performance data across the firm.
Raise awareness of CSR among our people	Over 2,200 members of staff voted on carbon offset programmes and our first environmental charity of the year. We began a new series of presentations about our CSR activities to departments in London. And our pro bono partner presented the new pro bono campaign at meetings in several offices. We also began an occasional series of debates with external speakers on various topics including human rights and CSR, homelessness, and the impact of climate change on the world's oceans. We encouraged people to give their views about our programme during the London Festival and held interactive sessions during the 2008 partnership conference. Community Challenge – our new firmwide team challenge month – was a huge success and engaged many people in the programme. It also helped several of our offices to start new community partnerships. Our CSR team continues to communicate our activities internally via regular e-bulletins, and to participate in inductions for all new members of staff in our London office. The 2006/2007 and 2007/8 CSR reports were emailed to everyone in the firm. Our intranet pages are regularly updated and people are encouraged to visit them with various internal announcements.	Continue to find ways of raising awareness of CSR among our staff. In 2009 we are holding internal 'seeing is believing' events on our homelessness, young people and climate change activities for partners, senior associates and heads of departments in London.
Integrating CSR	This is our third CSR report. It is international in scope and reports on our progress in the 2007/2008 financial year, as well as covering activities since then. In 2005 we were the first law firm to produce an externally reviewed CSR report. Our 2006/2007 report was the first assured international CSR report by a major law firm.	Continue to report annually on our progress with an externally assured international report for 2009/2010. Continue to use recognised external benchmarks in our reporting.
Reporting	We established a CSR working group to drive forward our CSR programme. Established new CSR principles, setting out our commitment to be a responsible business. We are delighted that departments such as our flexible benefits and events teams have produced their own green initiatives.	Continue to integrate CSR within the firm. Assess whether we are achieving our values: integrity; excellence; understanding of our clients and our communities; teamwork; and imagination. In 2009 we joined the United Nations Global Compact (a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.)
Stakeholder engagement	We have reported on the progress made through our associate engagement forums. The associate engagement group plays an ongoing and expanding role in the firm, meeting the London management group on a monthly basis. Similar groups have been established in many of our offices throughout the network. Conducted a YouGov survey among people in our London office. Continued to undertake pro bono and community volunteer surveys. Continued to receive requests for information from our clients and customers. We emailed our 2006/2007 CSR report to our people firmwide, to clients, and to many of our suppliers and the community organisations with which we work. We continue to get some feedback via our CSR feedback box, but this is limited. We continue to obtain external perspectives on CSR issues from the strategic advisory group.	Continue to encourage genuine dialogue with our stakeholders on how we conduct our business so that we can improve our professional services, our stewardship of the environment and our contribution to communities (in particular, our clients, our partners and people, future joiners, community groups and suppliers).
Advocacy and engagement	Our leadership in aspects of CSR has been recognised by several awards, and reinforced by our active engagement in several Business in the Community (BITC) leadership groups, and the CSR Working Group of the Council of Bars and Law Societies in Europe.
Supply chain management	Made plans to pilot a supply chain management process incorporating our various CSR policies and principles with key suppliers.	Begin our supply chain management process. Incorporate our environmental policy into all our purchasing decisions.