Corporate responsibility (CR) lies at the heart of our business strategy, and has two main objectives:

  • to align our corporate responsibility activities more closely to our core business as lawyers and to our business priorities and those of our clients, for the benefit of all our stakeholders 
  • to be recognised by all our stakeholders as an organisation that strives to be a responsible corporate citizen in all our relationships

Shine: Bright Ideas for Positive Change

Our CR strategy is encapsulated by Shine: Bright Ideas for Positive Change, which is all about how, in the actions we take, we are able to have a positive impact on society. Our approach encapsulates who we are as a firm.

The Shine programme concentrates on four work streams:

  • Community: Building and maintaining sustainable community relationships
    Our national charity partner until the end of April 2013 is Macmillan Cancer Support, and we are fundraising to support a Macmillan haematology suite in Northampton and the provision of financial grants in areas local to our offices. We also support local charities and organisations, via a mixture of fundraising and volunteering activities.
  • Environment: Demonstrating high standards of environmental responsibility in all our operations and minimising the environmental impacts associated with our activities, products and services
    We implement an environmental management system based on the ISO 14001:2004 standard, work closely with our supply chain to manage and improve our performance, are members of the MayDay Network and the Legal Sector Alliance Acting on Climate Change, and engage and inform our people about the important role they play.
  • Marketplace: Working collaboratively in the marketplace to evidence best practice aligned with our vision to be the first choice for legal advice for organisations and for individuals
    Pro bono advice is provided by our legal advisers and we operate pro bono clinics and services across our firm via our membership of LawWorks and Business in the Community (BiTC) ProHelp schemes. We work closely with clients to deliver their CR goals, including joint volunteering, fundraising, sporting challenges and sharing best practice.
  • Workplace: Promoting a positive, professional and co-operative working culture where everyone is valued
    We ask for, listen to and act on the views of our people; we creatively promote work/life balance and actively promote equality of opportunity.

Shoutback

All of our CR activities are uploaded to our blog called Shoutback. You can see what we have been up to on the Shoutback site.

Awards in 2013

  • Pennies from Heaven gold medal - in recognition of more than 20% of colleagues donating their payslip pennies to charity.

Awards in 2012

  • Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards - Community Services Non lenders Award for our CR strategy which is at the heart of our business strategy
  • Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards - Custonmer services/Treating Customers Fairly for our mental health awareness training programme provided by Recoveries Services Practice group
  • LawWorks Pro Bono Award - Best Contribution by a Regional Firm in recognition of pro bono legal advice clinic operated with Northampton and District Citizens Advice Bureau and University of Northampton Law School
  • BiTC West Midlands Kraft Foods Collaborative Action Award - being one of several companies providing pro bono support for social enterprise Miss Macaroon
  • Payroll Giving Quality Mark - Bronze Award status

Awards in 2011

  • BiTC West Midlands Community Impact Awards - in recognition of our ProHelp work.
  • LawWorks Partnership in Pro Bono Award - in recognition of the monthly pro bono legal advice clinic operated with CommuniCare, an advice centre in East Reading and the University of Reading Law School.
  • Payroll Giving Quality Mark - Bronze Award status

Our CR policies