Shoosmiths Becomes a Signatory of the United Nations Global Compact

Shoosmiths has become a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, supporting the ten principles of the Global Compact in relation to human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary initiative based on CEO commitments to implement universal sustainability principles and to support the United Nations. 8,000 plus business organisations and 4,000 plus non-business participants located in 170 countries are signatories.

The principles are aligned with our vision of a leading national law firm, our CR strategy and our approach to public reporting.

Signatories are required to:

1. Set in motion changes to business operations so that the UN Global Compact and Principles become part of strategy, culture and day-to-day operations.
2. Publicly advocate the UN Global Compact and its Principles via an annual progress report to the UN about how the principles have been advanced and other communications vehicles such as press releases, speeches etc. and;
3. Communicate with their stakeholders on an annual basis about progress in:

• Implementing the ten principles
• Supporting societal priorities

The Ten Principles

The UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles are derived from: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organisation’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

Human Rights

Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights and;

Principle 2: Make sure they are not complicit in any human rights abuses.

Labour

Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;

Principle 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour ;

Principle 5: The effective abolition of child labour; and

Principle 6: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Environment

Principle 7: Businesses should adopt a precautionary approach to environmental challenges:

Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility;

Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies;

Anti-Corruption

Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

As part of our participation in the Global Compact we will provide an annual submission of a Communication on Progress (COP) that details the Shoosmiths approach and our efforts to implement the ten principles. We support public accountability and transparency and are committed to report on our progress within one year of joining the Global Compact, and thereafter communicating annually in accordance with the Global Compact COP policy. This includes:

A statement signed by the chief executive expressing continued support for the Global Compact and renewing our ongoing commitment to the initiative and its principles. This letter will be in addition to this initial letter of commitment to join the Global Compact

A description of the actions that we have taken, (including policies, procedures, activities) and our plans. These will be detailed to demonstrate the implementation of the Global Compact principles in each of the four issue areas relating to human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

Our measured outcomes providing qualitative/quantitative details of the extent to which our targets and key performance indicators have been met.