As one of the Thames Valley’s leading law firms we are committed to acting responsibly. Our Corporate Responsibility policy covers five key areas which are:
We understand that we have a responsibility to protect the natural environment for future generations. We take this responsibility very seriously as a business.
We have had an environmental policy in place since at least 2008 and have taken steps to reduce our environmental impact.
In 2010 we engaged the services of The Carbon Trust to assess our carbon emissions from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010. These results have been obtained from the energy consumption used within our offices and our business transport activities.
We received a grading of one star and we are now working towards achieving a two star rating by reducing our carbon footprint by 5% year on year.
We are a member of the LSA, an inclusive movement of law firms and organisations committed to working collaboratively to take action on climate change by reducing their carbon footprint and adopting environmentally sustainable practices.
Our commitment to the local area is borne out by the fact we support local and regional charities. Some examples of our fundraising activities include:
- Donations to a number of charities and sponsorship of fundraising activities through the LLP’s charity fund
- Donations of prizes for raffles and auctions including free Wills
- Staff fund raising events including mufti days, marathons, sponsored walks and various other activities
- Money donated in lieu of sending Christmas cards
In 2010 staff nominated two local charities to support and raise funds for over the next two years. The nominated charities are Duchess of Kent House Charity (DoKHC), a Berkshire based charity which provides fundraising support for the specialist palliative care services available at DoKHC and Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service (Alexander Devine) who are working to build a children’s hospice in Berkshire to help families with children who have life limiting conditions.
Our involvement in the community is varied and includes actively supporting community and voluntary sector organisations. Some examples of these activities include:
- Teaching at local colleges
- Providing work experience
- Involvement in organisations outside work such as school governors and PTAs, Trusteeships, local charities, local clubs and societies
- Legal advisor to Relate
The firm is a member of Connect Reading, the business community partnership for the Greater Reading area.
Connect Reading is a unique collaboration of commercial, public and voluntary sector, in the Greater Reading area, whose core objective is to find innovative solutions to some of the challenging socio-economic issues facing Reading today.
This firm is committed to eliminating discrimination and promoting equality and diversity in its own policies, practices and procedures and in those areas in which it has influence. This applies to the firm’s professional dealings with staff and partners, other solicitors, barristers, clients and third parties.
The firm intends to treat everyone equally and with same attention, courtesy and respect regardless of their disability, gender, marital status, race, racial group, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age.
We feel we have a duty to support the community in which we work. Therefore, we actively give support to community and voluntary sector organisations by encouraging our fee-earners to undertake some work for such organisations on a pro-bono basis (without charge) where it is for the public good.