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

We have used 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.

Not all the GRI indicators are material to a professional law firm, so we have focused on the issues we believe to be relevant to us. Corporate Citizenship assured our 2006/2007 report using the GRI guidelines and AA1000 assurance standard, and have provided an external commentary for our 2007/2008 report. The community and pro bono data in this report has been reviewed for adherence to the London Benchmarking Group methodology and our carbon footprint by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management.

See how we have used the GRI guidelines.