External commentary
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Freshfields) commissioned Corporate Citizenship to provide external commentary on the 2007/08 update to its full Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2006/07. For this commentary, our work has not extended to assurance or audit.
Our full assurance statement on the 06/07 report is available here.
Freshfields' goal is to lead its sector on corporate social responsibility reporting and performance. The firm recently became the first major international law firm to join the United Nations Global Compact and has participated in numerous initiatives which help to drive forward the corporate social responsibility agenda in its sector.
The updates provided by Freshfields demonstrate continued progress by the firm on many areas of performance and in how it manages and reports on its commitments.
The firm has strengthened its management approach with a set of corporate social responsibility principles, a new working group with representation from across the firm and new leadership and strategy for the 'people' element of its programme.
Of particular note, we see evidence of a steady growth in responsible business activity across the international network of offices as well as performance improvements in a number of areas, including the 4.6 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and an increase in the number of employees engaging in pro bono and voluntary activity. The report also highlights the outcomes of its engagement with employees through the Associate Engagement Forums and shows how this has already influenced the firm's management of important topics such as personal development.
As well as highlighting successes, the report is frank about identifying and discussing challenges such as missing the 10 per cent greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.
Looking ahead
The firm is making good progress towards its commitments. At the same time, from our review work, we believe a number of topics warrant further development in future reports.
The report should provide evidence of how the firm engages with all its stakeholders and uses this feedback to shape its decision-making. While Freshfields has a strong programme for employee engagement in the London office, more evidence of wider engagement internally and externally would strengthen the report.
Freshfields should continue to develop the performance measures, data and systems that underpin its commitments to corporate social responsibility, so that there is greater consistency and comparability across international offices.
We believe the firm should also demonstrate in more detail how it ensures that new client work is always consistent with the firm's values and principles.
As the firm continues to expand internationally, new corporate responsibility issues will arise which Freshfields will need to explore and report on, in addition to the continued focus on issues identified in our assurance statement of 2006/07.
Corporate Citizenship
20 March 2009