Methodology and assurance

For us, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an umbrella term covering our impact on society and the environment in its widest sense; our pro bono legal advice and community projects; our impact on the environment; our diversity record; our behaviour as an employer, as a purchaser of goods and services, and as a provider of legal advice; the suppliers we use; our corporate governance policies; our relationships with our stakeholders; and the shared values that guide our firm.

We believe that having strong CSR credentials will help us attract and retain the best people and have a positive impact on how our clients view us, and that it is key to our continued success as a business.

Assurance

As The Corporate Citizenship Company commented on our first CSR report for 2004/5, this is a ‘journey on which the firm has embarked’. We have committed ourselves to using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines and AA1000 international assurance standard as a reference point for this report to ensure we provide information on our social and environmental impact in a systematic way.

Using these guidelines, we have focused on the issues we believe to be material to us. We believe that not all the indicators are material to a professional law firm. The Corporate Citizenship Company has assured our 2006/7 report using the GRI guidelines and AA1000 standard. Our community and pro bono data is assured by the London Benchmarking Group and our carbon footprint has been independently reviewed by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management.

Click here to see how we have used the GRI guidelines.