2005/6 CSR Report - Freshfields

csr
making a difference
London office, December 2005

External commentary by The Corporate Citizenship Company
We have assessed this report against best practice standards in CSR reporting. Our
detailed review statement is available online at www.freshfields.com/csr.
In summary, we believe Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s first corporate social
responsibility report is to be highly commended. According to our own research, it
is the first CSR report of any international law firm and provides an accessible and
balanced account that should help interested audiences to learn more about the
firm and engage more effectively on the issues that concern them.
Mike Tuffrey, Director, The Corporate Citizenship Company
Contacts: corporate social responsibility
(CSR)
CSR complaints adviser and
ombudsman
Paul Watchman
T + 44 20 7832 7515
E paul.watchman@freshfields.com
Chair of CSR committee
Crispin Hain-Cole
T + 44 20 7785 2782
E crispin.hain-cole@freshfields.com
Community affairs manager
Michelle Milnes
T + 44 20 7716 4616
E michelle.milnes@freshfields.com
Pro bono co-ordinator
Florence Campbell
T + 44 20 7427 3215
E florence.campbell@freshfields.com
We encourage and welcome feedback
on our report.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
We are a leading international law firm
with 28 offices in 18 countries across
Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the
US. We aim to provide the highest
quality legal advice – domestically and
internationally – in the practice areas of
key importance to our clients. Please
see the back page of this report for a
brief overview of our firm.
Successes
We are the only law firm to have
won the UK Business in the
Community award for excellence.
In 2005 we won the Solicitors Pro
Bono Group’s annual award in the
large firm category. Associate Simon
Jones was jointly awarded the Young
Solicitors Group’s pro bono award
for the best young solicitor at a large
firm.
35 per cent of our people in London
took part in one or more community
activities in 2004, spending over
22,000 hours on community work.
We gave £2.3m in time, cash and
gifts in kind in 2004/05 and 327
people worked on homelessness
projects in London.
We continue to support the charity
Habitat for Humanity and we sent
volunteers to Sri Lanka to assist in
building homes for families affected
by the Tsunami in July 2005.
Our Clean City Awards since 1999
show we have clearly reduced our
impact on the environment through
re-using and recycling resources,
minimising waste, using green
energy and encouraging the use of
public transport and cycling.
Future improvements
Provide a fully validated and
externally audited CSR report that
encompasses the entire firm by
2007.
Enhance the diversity of the firm by
continuing actively to support
schemes encouraging applicants
from all backgrounds. Introduce a
partnership mentoring scheme for
female associates to increase the
number of female partners at the
firm.
Increase our involvement in
community activities even further.
Develop our commitment to the
environment by changing all our
energy contracts to renewable ones,
cutting down on our paper use and
reducing our air freight and air
travel.

senior
partners’ statement
Our key values
Trusted client relationships
Teamwork
Excellence in all we do
Imagination
We aim to be the leading international law firm. To achieve this, we need to earn
the respect of our stakeholders, clients and competitors by demonstrating
excellence in our legal work and our commitment to the care of our clients and
staff.
However, professional excellence and commitment to our clients and people are
not enough. We must also aspire to have a positive impact upon the communities
in which we operate.
Many of our clients produce corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and some
have won awards for them. However, few major law firms have yet attempted to
provide such information in a systematic way. To help judge whether our efforts are
on the right track, we believe in the value of using recognised benchmark
comparisons. For this purpose, we have tried wherever appropriate to draw on
relevant CSR guidance, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Index, the Forge
Guidelines and the London Benchmarking Group.
This is our first step towards providing a full report on sustainability. We hope, in
time, to provide a fully validated and externally audited CSR report. By doing so, we
learn about what we are doing together and what more there is that we can do.
The entire firm is committed to the goals and values in this report and everyone is
responsible for meeting our targets.
Konstantin Mettenheimer
Senior partner
Anthony Salz
Senior partner
1

Saving paper
We have kept this report reasonably
short to preserve paper.
We hope you will view the longer
version of our report on the internet at
www.freshfields.com/csr and print out
sparingly sections that interest you.
our
methodology
Timeframe
This report covers the period from
September 2004 until September 2005.
Where we have referred to data that
falls outside these dates, we have stated
this in the report.
This is not a full CSR report but our first
step towards providing one. We are
aware that not all our offices provided
information on their social and
environmental impact or, where there
was information, that it was not
collected in a way that made
comparison simple. This report is
therefore London-focused but contains
some firmwide data. Our aim is to
provide a full report by 2007.
GRI Guidelines
Where we do not cover an issue here
but deal with it on the CSR pages of our
website, we have cross-referenced this
information in the index for easy
reference and to comply with
recommendations on indexing made in
the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
Guidelines.
Our CSR approach
At Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, CSR
is an umbrella term covering our pro
bono and community projects; our
impact on the environment; our
diversity record; helping our people to
maintain a work/life balance (for
example through providing a gym on
site as well as providing a range of
subsidised sporting, social and cultural
activities); the suppliers we use; our
corporate governance policies; and the
values that all our people should
uphold. We also believe that having
strong CSR credentials will ultimately
help us attract and retain the best
people, have a positive impact on how
our clients view us and assist in the
efficient development of our business.
Where we have robust information that
meets recognised CSR standards we
have provided it, but the information in
some places was incomplete. We have
acknowledged these standards
whenever possible. We have adopted
an informal and incremental approach
to implementing the GRI Sustainability
Guidelines, as suggested by the
Guidelines themselves, as a starting
point.
2

M&A law firm of the year 2005
JUVE Awards 2005
CSR structure
Our chief executive, Hugh Crisp, directs
the development of the firm’s CSR
policies and programmes. Our
partnership secretary, Crispin Hain-
Cole, chairs our CSR committee (CSRC)
and is responsible for co-ordinating and
driving those policies forward. He
receives specialist CSR advice from Paul
Watchman, a partner, and Malcolm
Forster, a consultant and former
partner. Paul and Malcolm are experts
in CSR matters and regularly advise
clients on implementing CSR and
reporting on CSR issues.
Our senior partners, Anthony Salz and
Konstantin Mettenheimer, participate
directly in the discussion of CSR issues.
The CSRC reports to the partnership
council, the top policy body of the firm,
which is chaired by the senior partners.
Anthony and Konstantin also chair our
strategic advisory group, from which
we are able to obtain external
perspectives on CSR issues. Paul and
Malcolm are complaints advisers and
ombudsmen; they will conduct an
internal review of how we implement
our CSR policies every year.
Evolving CSR reporting
We have decided to create an internetbased
report that allows us to update
our CSR information in real time as
policies and practices change or when
there is something worthy of note. In
addition, we intend to issue an annual
report like this one to all our
stakeholders.
Management structure
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a
partnership. The firm’s principal policy
body is the partnership council. It
includes the firm’s two senior partners
and 15 elected members, assisted by the
partnership secretary. The council
delegates authority for day-to-day
decision-making to the central
management team, comprising the two
senior partners and the chief executive,
assisted by the managing director and
the managing partner.
The senior partners are elected by the
partners for a five-year term (renewable
for one further five-year term). The chief
executive, managing director and
managing partner are all appointed by
the senior partners with the approval of
the partnership council. Locally, each of
the firm’s offices has its own office
managing partner who is responsible for
the management of the business and the
reputation of the firm in each location.
Targets
Our general CSR targets (in addition to
the targets listed in specific sections of
this report)
Provide an electronic suggestion box so
our people can suggest ways in which
we can improve our activities or report
anonymously on CSR misconduct
Encourage genuine dialogue between
our stakeholders about how we improve
our professional services, our stewardship
of the environment and our contribution
to communities
Raise awareness of CSR for all our
people
Employ a full-time CSR officer
Collect consistent data from across the
firm
Publish a full firmwide CSR report, which
has been externally validated, by 2007
Become a signatory of UN Global
Compact and a member of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Strengthen our dialogue with nongovernmental
organisations (NGOs)
3

Conflicts management
We were one of the first large
international law firms to introduce a
computerised conflicts management
system. This system is staffed by a nineperson
team in London that also
provides out-of-hours support to take
account of time differences in other
offices.
law and ethics
Commitment to good governance
In a partnership, each partner owns the
business and is responsible for its
success. Our success turns on our
reputation. We depend on all of our
people to present the best image of the
firm to our stakeholders and the public.
We encourage this through a firm
commitment to good governance and
the highest professional and ethical
standards. The firm is committed to
openness among all our people.
We have a number of key policies that
seek to protect or enhance issues such
as client confidentiality, conflicts of
interest and client care. This underlines
our commitment to teamwork and
trusted client relationships.
We act for clients with a wide range of
interests. We believe that every client
deserves the best legal services
available. Here we list some examples
of policies demonstrating our
commitment to responsible conduct.
Regulation
Our approach to risk management is a
reflection of our high demands on
ourselves as well as professional
standards, government legislation and
the expectations of society at large in
all the jurisdictions in which we
practise.
We are subject to a number of
statutory requirements relating to
money laundering, proceeds of crime,
competition and corporate governance
and are bound by contractual and
common law duties such as client
confidentiality.
Anti-money laundering
We are committed to denying terrorists
and other organised criminals access to
the world’s financial systems.
We operate a stringent client
verification process and we have
invested in people and technology to
help us achieve these goals. A team of
lawyers and compliance assistants is
dedicated to the process of accepting
new business and we have bespoke
online procedures to ensure we comply
with the relevant regulations wherever
we operate.
4

Public law firm of the year 2005
JUVE Awards 2005
We contribute to anti-money
laundering initiatives on behalf of the
legal profession. We have collaborated
with other firms to create a training
application on the UK regulatory
regime that we hope will become an
industry standard. This Q&A based
e-learning system guides users through
various scenarios and provides
information and explanations on the
relevant aspects of anti-money
laundering law.
We provide regular in-house training
sessions on the provisions of the
Money Laundering Regulations 2003,
the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and
the Terrorism Act 2000 to all relevant
people. In the UK and other
jurisdictions in which we operate, we
speak regularly to relevant industry
bodies and regulators. We are involved
in the International Bar Association
and the Law Society’s anti-money
laundering discussion group.
Conflicts of interest and
confidential information
Because we work in many different
jurisdictions, the potential for acting in
a conflict of interest situation is very
high. Each of the countries in which we
operate has its own rules and accepted
practice for dealing with conflicts
of interest and client-confidential
information.
We have developed an enhanced
version of our computer system for
managing conflicts over the last 12
months. New search technology and
changes to user interfaces and conflict
reporting make the system faster and
easier to use.
We have increased the number of
people in our risk and compliance team
to provide additional support to
partners and management in conflict
analysis, decision making and
management. Our conflicts analysts are
qualified lawyers and act as dedicated
intermediaries to enable partners to
identify, research and manage issues in
a time efficient manner. There is a
frequent need for an independent
intermediary to investigate issues
where client confidentiality may be
paramount.
We will recruit further risk and
compliance staff over the next year to
ensure confidential client information is
protected with integrity as required.
This reflects not only the strict
regulatory environment in which we
work but also increased client
awareness of, and reduced tolerance
for, conflict issues.
Client complaints
Our complaints procedure follows the
requirements laid down by the Law
Society of England and Wales. We are
committed to a full and fair investigation
of any complaint as quickly as possible,
providing a written explanation to the
client of the findings of our investigation
and any potential action proposed.
Whistleblowing
All our people are aware of our policy of
reporting any perceived departure from
the ethical and compliance standards
that we set ourselves as a firm. This
policy is in place only to deal with any
serious wrongdoing and not to
undermine the trust we have in each
other.
5

our
stakeholders
‘The epitome of the
modern global law
firm’
PLC Which Lawyer? 2005
Global law firm of
the year 2005
Who’s Who Legal
As an international law firm, we have a
wide range of stakeholders: partners,
clients and staff form the core group.
We also have responsibilities towards
our potential recruits, the wider legal
community and (as a provider of
legal advice) leading companies,
charities, political and governmental
organisations as well as society as a
whole. Because these relationships are
important to us, we put a lot of time
and effort into them, particularly
through our community work, which
includes pro bono activities.
Two of our key values are teamwork
and trusted client relationships. It is
vital that our communication with our
stakeholders reflects these values.
Dialogue with stakeholders
People in key positions provide
information on environmental and
social impact throughout our firm. For
example, in relation to our
environmental impact, our premises
managers and IT management hold
important information on issues such
as procurement practices.
We decided to publish this report to
show our stakeholders our current CSR
performance rather than delay
publication until a full consultation was
completed. We aim to widen and
deepen our dialogue with stakeholders
in the next reporting year and to
expand our reporting throughout our
offices. To facilitate greater input and
ease of communication, we will
introduce an electronic CSR suggestion
box.
Through our client advisory activities
and via our pro bono work, we are
frequently in contact with community
groups and a wide range
of NGOs, including BankTrack, WWF,
Friends of the Earth, Amnesty
International, Greenpeace, Respect,
Habitat for Humanity and Crisis. NGOs
and community groups take different
approaches to issues. We believe that
open dialogue with these stakeholders
(within the bounds of client
confidentiality) is important to the
development of sustainable practices
for our business and that of our clients.
6

Global law firm of the year 2004
Chambers Global Awards
Publications and seminars
We have hosted, both internally and
externally, around 130 seminars for
clients in the last 12 months in London.
We have also published 130 client
guides during that period. Members of
our firm write and contribute to a vast
number of articles and publications.
These include:
Banking on responsibility – Part I of a
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
report into the Equator Principles,
July 2005 (client guide)
‘The Equator Principles – towards
sustainable banking? Parts 1 and 2’,
Journal of International Banking and
Financial Law, 2005 (article)
Corporate social responsibility, April
2004 (client guide)
‘Beyond the Equator’, Environmental
Finance, June 2005 (article)
Environmental liability in the UK,
March 2003 (client guide)
How others rate us
The independent legal directories, The
Legal 500 and Chambers, consistently
rank us highly for all key areas of work
in many countries. The 2005 edition of
The Legal 500 says: ‘...all the
ingredients are there to compete with
the world’s elite for the most
challenging legal instructions.’
Memberships
Business in the Community – ‘Business action
on education’ leadership team
Business in the Community – ‘Business action
on homelessness’ national leadership team
Business in the Community – ‘Business action
on homelessness’ regional leadership team
Business in the Community – ‘ENGAGE in
Europe’ international business leadership
team
Business in the Community – ‘ENGAGE in
Europe’ practitioners’ group
Business in the Community’s ‘PerCent Club’
(corporates that contribute 1 per cent of UK
pre-tax profit to the community through
financial donations and support, gifts in kind,
staff time and other resources)
Free Representation Unit
Friends of the Tate
Global Graduates Diversity in Law
Heart of the City
‘Inspire’ (new Hackney Education Business
Partnership)
International Emissions Trading Association
London Benchmarking Group
London First
Royal Courts of Justice Citizens Advice Bureau
Management Committee and Employment
and Finance Sub-committees
Scottish Council for Development and
Industry
Solicitors Pro Bono Group
Teach First
Tower Hamlets Education Business
Partnership
UK Academy of Finance
7

our
people
Alumni
As part of our emphasis on teamwork, it
is essential for us to maintain close
contact with people that used to work
with us. We need to build on our efforts
so far to stay in touch with alumni and
organise alumni functions.
Promoting diversity
As an equal opportunities employer, we
treat individuals equally and with the
same attention, courtesy and respect
regardless of their racial group, colour,
ethnic or national origin, nationality,
religion or belief, gender, sexual
orientation, disability or marital status.
London learning and development
attendees 2004-05
Course category
Development programmes 651
Induction events 149
Skills workshops 454
Attendees
The firm’s equal opportunities policy
applies to all applicants, lawyers and
business services staff. It also applies to
all daily interactions within the work
environment and in other work-related
settings such as business trips and
business-related social events.
We were the first City law firm to
support the Global Graduates Diversity
in Law scheme to help minorities enter
the legal profession: we provide
sponsorship, host open days and take
part in training programmes. We also
took part in the ‘Legal Chances –
ethnic minorities into City law firms’
programme in 2004.
We were one of the first law firms in
the City of London to have a female
partner. However, just 14 per cent of
our partners are female. We will be
addressing this by, for example,
introducing a mentoring scheme for
female associates. 49 per cent of our
trainees over the last four years have
been female.
8

Gender profile – worldwide employees, 2005
Age profile – worldwide employees, 2005
57% Women
31%
Under 30
43% Men
43% 30-40
Gender profile – worldwide partners, 2005
18%
40-50
14% Women
7% 50-60
86% Men
1% Over 60
International law
firm of the year
2004
Décideurs Stratégie Finance Droit
Our policies
Our formal policies on equal
opportunities, diversity, harassment and
conduct apply to all our people and are
clearly outlined on our intranet.
We have policies on part-time and
flexible working arrangements and
support employees with family
commitments. We are dedicated to
finding more opportunities for people
to balance the personal and
professional aspects of their lives. Over
8 per cent of our people in London
have flexible working arrangements
and we expect this to increase in the
future.
Recruitment
Since 2001, graduates from 64
universities worldwide have started
training contracts in our London office.
12.5 per cent of our London trainees
are from minority backgrounds,
exceeding the Law Society’s target of
10 per cent.
We have always drawn talent from a
wide range of cultures, backgrounds
and jurisdictions. For example, in
August 2005, lawyers in our London
office represented 35 nationalities.
However, our information on ethnicity
and disability is incomplete.
Learning and development
We are committed to becoming
one of the leading international
professional services organisations in
developing the capabilities of its
people. One of the reasons behind our
success is that we were one of the first
law firms to recognise the need for
ongoing training. The only way to
maintain our excellence in all we do is
to constantly invest in the legal and
professional skills of our people.
We invest substantially in learning and
development to help individuals
achieve their full potential. Our learning
and development team provides a
range of professional skills and
language courses, including focused
workshops, longer personal
development programmes and online
‘skills at your fingertips’ training.
Targets
Provide complete figures on ethnicity
and disability
Develop targets and policies to
improve future performance in these
areas
Collect international data in a
systematic manner
Develop policies on women becoming
partners and recruiting people from
minorities
Further develop our alumni network
9

health
safety and welfare
Web access
Our website has recently undergone
substantial modification to make it more
accessible to disabled users. We were
also the first international law firm to
have its English-language web pages
approved and certified by the Plain
English Campaign in 2005.
Our formal health and safety policy
demonstrates our commitment to
maintaining a better workplace.
Our health and safety committee in
London meets quarterly and provides
each department with the opportunity
to be involved in matters that affect
health and safety. It reports all
accidents, incidents and statutory
health and safety visits to the
partnership.
Disabled access
We employed a consultant in early 2004
to see how easy it was for disabled
employees and visitors to access and use
our London office. Following the report,
we have earmarked £400,000 for
modifications to our premises by April
2006.
We investigate all accidents to learn
from them. We have three full-time
professionals with experience and
qualifications in all aspects of health
and safety risk management. This
includes planning supervision for
internal construction projects and
carrying out risk assessments on a
range of topics, including the most
recent requirements for testing fire
precautions.
10

Accident trend by quarter
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
02 02 02 02 03 03 03 03 04 04 04 04
EMF monitoring
In 2003, we carried out checks on EMF
radiation levels from our mobile phone
amplifiers in London. Our levels were
well below the suggested maximum
exposure level of 9 W/m 2 .
Accidents
We recorded 68 accidents in London
during 2004, 3 per cent more than
2003. The accident rate was two
accidents per 100 people on site.
There were seven accidents reported to
the local authority under RIDDOR
(Reporting of Injuries Diseases and
Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
1995). This is up by two, or a rate of
about 0.27 reportable accidents per
100 people.
The trend data shows that we are
returning to the low levels we had in
early 2002. We started out with
widespread under-reporting, which we
were able to address in 2003, but
this increased the recorded number
of accidents substantially. However,
accident awareness-raising programmes
in 2004 may have
contributed to the subsequent
downward trend: 40 of the 68
accidents in 2004 happened in the first
half of the year. In December 2004, we
recorded our first accident-free month
since March 2002.
About 16 per cent of our accidents are
caused by manual handling and 29 per
cent are slips, trips and falls. Our target
is to reduce these to 10 per cent and 20
per cent respectively over the coming
year.
Targets
Complete suggested modifications to
improve our disability access by April
2006
Achieve a target accident rate of under
1 per 100, or fewer than 24 accidents
on site in a year
Achieve a target RIDDOR rate of 1.5
per 100 people or less in 2005
Collect health and safety data from all
our offices
11

our
community
£2.3m
given in time, cash and
gifts in kind in London
2004/05
Source: based on London Benchmarking Group model for
measuring corporate community involvement
Germany and Austria
We employ two community officers for
Germany and Austria, based in
Frankfurt. There are community activities
in Vienna, Cologne, Berlin, Düsseldorf,
Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. One
major activity is a joint Germany and
Austria initiative at Christmas to collect
clothing for homeless people, which is
then distributed to local homeless
shelters by people in each of our offices.
Our approach
We believe we have a professional
responsibility to use our skills to help
people in need and to improve access
to justice. Our commitment to
excellence in all we do applies equally
to our community work as it does to
everything else. We actively encourage
our people to get involved in
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer In The
Community by providing extra time off
to volunteers and our philosophy is to
promote active employee participation,
rather than simply fundraising.
Our programme is based around three
key themes: homelessness, education
and pro bono legal advice.
Education
We work with two London schools,
Redlands Primary in Tower Hamlets and
Haggerston, a secondary school in
Hackney.
Our people participate in weekly
programmes working with individual
children or small groups to help them
practise their reading, develop number
skills through fun board games or
improve their ability to use a computer.
Others act as mentors to girls from
Haggerston School, who meet in our
London office every two weeks to talk
about schoolwork, exam preparation
and career plans.
When Haggerston school found itself
without a French speaking language
assistant in 2004, we organised a
‘virtual Paris’, which meant pupils
preparing for GCSE examinations had
an opportunity to practise their spoken
French. We also participated in a
‘virtual Madrid’.
12

Barclays European Community Impact Award
Business in the Community Awards for Excellence 2004
London Benchmarking Group
We joined the London Benchmarking
Group in 2003 and use its model to
measure our community contribution
and benchmark our performance
against other member companies. This
not only helps us assess our contribution
accurately, but also contributes to
ongoing strategic discussions about the
development of our community activities.
35%
of our people in London
took part in community
work in 2004, contributing
22,443 hours of
volunteering
Homelessness: Ready for Work
We are a member of Business in the
Community’s Business Action on
Homelessness campaign. Since 2000,
we have provided 76 work placements
in our London office through its Ready
for Work programme. Some of those
who came to us have stayed in full or
part-time employment, often their first
job for some time.
Homelessness: Habitat for Humanity
We sent teams of volunteers to Sri
Lanka with the charity Habitat for
Humanity in July 2005. They took part
in a project to build new homes for
families affected by the Tsunami. We
paid for all flights, accommodation and
ground costs, and each volunteer
raised personal sponsorship for the
necessary materials. Each team
comprised five people drawn from our
entire network, with two from our Asia
offices, one from Paris, one from
Brussels and two from London.
Our volunteers worked alongside the
local community just outside an area
called Galle in south-west Sri Lanka,
which was very badly hit. They built
simple, one-room ‘core’ houses that
can be added to at a later stage. The
building work involved laying
foundations, building brick walls and
constructing proper roofing. Previously,
we have sent teams to work on similar
projects in Romania, Poland and South
Africa.
Targets
Maintain a high level of involvement in
community projects
Collect international measurement data
in a systematic manner
Spread our involvement in community
work throughout the firm
13

our
community
Pro bono award in
the large firm
category 2005
Young Solicitors Group
Pro bono: London 2012
Between 2003 and 2005, we provided
pro bono advice to London 2012 Ltd,
the company that successfully
organised London’s bid for the 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games.
We advised on corporate governance
issues and helped the company to draft
a directors’ code of conduct; we
advised on the structure of the bodies
that will organise and run the 2012
Olympic Games and then put that
structure in a joint venture agreement;
and we also evaluated the applicability
of EU public procurement laws to
London 2012 and its successor bodies.
These issues were crucial in the context
of a competitive bidding process
conducted in the full glare of the
world’s media.
We also sent one of our corporate
associates on secondment to London
2012’s offices for eight months during
2004 to assist the in-house legal team
in preparing the bid file for the
International Olympic Committee.
Pro bono: UNEP FI
We are working on a pro bono basis for
the asset management working group
of the United Nations Environment
Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).
UNEP FI is a global partnership between
the UNEP and banks, insurers and asset
managers. It works closely with more
than 200 financial institutions to
develop and promote links between
the environment, sustainability and
financial performance. The asset
management working group is a core
group of UNEP FI members, which
explores the emerging relationships
between environmental, social and
corporate governance considerations
and investment decision making.
We produced a legal memorandum on
the law of fiduciary duty in several
major financial markets, focusing on
environmental, social and corporate
governance issues, and whether fund
managers may take these factors, as
well as financial considerations, into
account when making investment
decisions. We presented the report to
500 people, including the CEOs of
major international banks, at the UNEP FI
global roundtable meeting in October
2005.
14

Pro bono award (over 100 fee-earners category)
2005
Solicitors Pro Bono Group
Professional initiatives
We participate fully in Law Society
initiatives aimed at resolving legal
difficulties for victims of international
humanitarian crises, natural disasters
and terrorist incidents.
Pro bono: free representation
Our lawyers regularly represent pro
bono clients before the courts and
employment tribunals. Pro bono
advocates provide an extremely
valuable service, both to clients who
may be nervous appearing before a
judge or tribunal, and to the courts
and tribunals, who often find
unrepresented parties difficult. We
ensure that our pro bono clients receive
the same high quality advice as our feepaying
clients.
The firm has a close relationship with
the Free Representation Unit (FRU) and
regularly obtains instructions from the
Royal Courts of Justice Citizens Advice
Bureau to represent litigants in person
before the courts.
Associate Simon Jones represented Mr
A, an Iraqi national who had come to
the UK as a refugee and was left with a
disfigured face after being tortured
under Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Unfortunately, corrective plastic surgery
in the UK was unsuccessful, leaving Mr
A with breathing difficulties, so he
brought a claim for professional
negligence against a surgeon. Simon
represented him at a case management
conference at London County Court,
before negotiating with the defendant
insurer’s solicitors, achieving a
settlement of over £21,000. In June
2005, Simon was the joint winner of
the Young Solicitors Group’s annual pro
bono award for the best young solicitor
at a large firm.
Pro bono: Guantanamo Bay
Our London, Paris, Washington and
Brussels teams have submitted legal
briefs to a US court on behalf of 305
UK and European parliamentarians,
including six former law lords, two
former foreign secretaries, a former
lord chancellor and 11 bishops. The
briefs consider whether the military
commissions established to try
prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay
contravene international human rights
law.
The case is being brought by Salim
Hamdan, a detainee designated for trial
by the military commissions established
by President Bush. He is challenging the
legality of the commissions, which, he
claims, contravene domestic and
international law and the US
constitution. In a landmark ruling
in November 2004, Judge James
Robertson granted Mr Hamdan’s
petition in part and suspended the
operation of the military commissions.
However, the US Court of Appeals
overturned Judge Robertson’s decision
in July 2005. Mr Hamdan’s lawyers
have taken his case to the US Supreme
Court, which will hear it in 2006.
15

Cleaner travel
We encourage our people to walk, cycle
or use public transport to get to work;
we now have five times as many cycle
spaces in our London car park as we did
before summer 2005 and have installed
racks, lockers and a drying room. We
were able to do this by cutting the
number of car parking spaces. We now
have just 12, kept only for clients,
disabled access, maintenance and
emergency vehicles.
our
environment
Verifying our supply chain
We purchased 428.8 tonnes of paper in
London alone from Howard Smith Paper
in 2004 and we visited its mill in Austria
in May 2005 to check its sustainability
policies. The main paper we buy
is at least 30 per cent elemental
chlorine-free and sourced from
Forest Stewardship Council-approved
sustainable, managed forests.
Our policy
We regularly advise clients on
environmental issues and CSR
standards. As we help our clients to
improve their own performance in
managing their resources, developing
their business and protecting our
world, it would be remiss of us not to
adopt an imaginative approach to
reducing our own environmental
impact.
Healthy eating
Our restaurant serves, wherever
possible, organic food that is GMO-free
and irradiation-free and comes from
suppliers that have ethical policies on
transportation issues (such as fuel usage
and greenhouse gas emissions from
refrigerated trucks), animal welfare and
slaughter, and pollution by fertilisers and
pesticides.
Growing concern over the effect of
climate change has heightened our
awareness in two areas – the energy
we use and our travel.
Climate change and renewable
energy
We are making a real contribution
towards education about climate
change.
Our project finance and environment,
planning and regulatory teams in
London and Germany have published
articles on climate change and
emissions trading in many legal and
professional journals. They have also
lectured widely, including addressing
the American Bar Association and
American Legal Institute in Washington
in 2005 on the European Emissions
Trading Scheme and participating in
debates about schemes to control US
greenhouse gas emissions.
We have led the way in the
development of legal understanding of
renewable energy, particularly wind
farm and biomass development, and
we have written and spoken extensively
on these subjects to clients and other
parties. Education is a powerful tool for
raising awareness about social and
environmental issues.
16

Saving energy
We have saved 541 hours of energy a
week by adjusting light timer settings on
each floor of our London office. We
have new, efficient computer servers: 15
now do the job of 150, cutting thermal
output by 80 per cent, saving energy
and money.
Recycling
We send almost all of the printer toner
cartridges we use in London back to
the supplier to be recycled and give the
money we receive for them back to our
community programme. We have also
donated 406 desktops and 300 laptops
to Tools for Schools in the past year.
Our target is to also donate to
International Aid, which supplies PCs to
third world countries. We are making a
conscious effort to reduce the amount
of paper we use in our publications: a
recent example was our graduate
recruitment brochure, where much of
the material was kept online.
Our non-renewable energy use
We calculated the energy used by our
London office in 2004 that is not
derived from renewable sources and
the corresponding amount of CO2 gas
used on the estate. Although we have
reduced our CO2 emissions from our
gas and electricity use by a third
through buying green energy, we still
have work to do.
Impact Energy in KWh Kg CO2
Gas 11,496,484 2,184,332
Electricity 20,966,380 4,337,442
Total 32,462,864 6,521,774
Renewable energy
We have renewable energy contracts
for all but one of our buildings in
London. The equivalent amount of
electricity we use is supplied to the
national grid from sustainable sources
(wind, wave or solar). A government
concession means we pay no extra for
buying sustainable electricity.
Targets
Get full data from all our offices on
sustainability and environmental impact
Make travel policies greener by reducing
our air travel and air freight through
using video and telephone conferencing
wherever possible
Verify our supply chain by developing
questionnaires for suppliers and a
toolkit for substantiating their claims
Implement an International Organisation
for Standardisation (ISO) environment
programme for each office
Reduce the amount of paper we
purchase by using double-sided printing
where possible and increasing the use
of recycled paper
Continue to look into the feasibility of
carbon neutrality
17

our
environment
Efficient lifts
We have installed new drive systems in 4
of the 19 lifts in our London office with
4 more to be converted. These updated
systems reduce the amount of energy
needed to power the lifts when they are
in use. We expect to be able to save
87,118 KWh a year.
Water use
Our total water consumption in London
last year was 42,702m 3 . We recognise
water is a precious resource and we are
investigating ways to further reduce
waste, such as replacing drain cocks
and valves in our offices and the use of
‘cistermiser’ devices on flushing
cisterns. We made a considerable
saving recently by changing our air
conditioning systems, reducing water
loss through evaporation.
Established policies
In 1995 we were one of the first firms
to sign up to the UK Department of the
Environment’s ‘Making a Corporate
Commitment’ campaign, which
encourages businesses to reduce their
environmental impact, and we have
won a Clean City Award for our efforts
to minimise our environmental impact
in the City of London every year since
1999.
We need to establish our own targets
for reducing our environmental impact.
Waste management
We agreed a contract with S2 Security
Shredding in 2005. We will segregate
waste at source, as this is an
acknowledged way of measuring and
managing waste more efficiently. We
intend that only our catering waste,
which is mainly biodegradable, is
compacted and goes to landfill.
Fax-to-desktop
We recently launched a system where
faxes are received as an email direct to
the user’s inbox. This has helped reduce
the amount of paper we use. Our target
now is to implement faxing from the
desktop across the firm and to reduce
our 150 office fax machines in London
by half.
Education
We run a postgraduate diploma and
masters in law (LLM) in environmental
law at Nottingham Trent University’s law
school. Six members of our firm are
enrolled for the LLM and one for the
diploma for the 2005/06 academic year.
18

Activity Units 2001 1 2004 Good practice
benchmark
Waste Kg per member of staff pa 417.63 - 200
Recycling % of total waste 79.79% 87% 2 70
Energy use (electricity) 3 KWh/m 2 588.78 343.14 234
Energy use (gas) 2 KWh/m 2 275.51 188.16 4 114
Energy related emissions 5 KgCO2/m 2 311.4 106.73 131
Water M 3 per member of staff pa 26.13 19.31 6 7.7
1
Calculated by Wastebusters – City Waste Project. Data from June 2001, normalised for the year
2
Derived from standard waste fractions at Grosvenor waste site in Kent
3
Energy Use in Offices (ECON19) BRECSU 1998
4
Based on gross internal floor space, current estate: 61,101.51m 2
5
Revised from UK Energy Statistics 1999
6
Based on total consumption for 2004 of 42,702m 3
Our impact (see above table)
We conducted a survey of our
environmental impact in 2001 and
compiled a comparison in 2004.
Although we have made significant
progress in most areas, we have much to
do, particularly in reducing waste and
reducing the amount of water we use.
Recycling
In 2004, 110,118kg of mixed office
waste was removed from our London
office, of which 87 per cent was
recycled. In addition, we recycle
approximately 23,000kg of paper every
month.
Sustainable products
The foam backing of the carpet tiles we
buy from our suppliers is made from
recycled sound-deadening material
sourced from the Ford Motor
Company. The old tiles we replace are
graded for condition and the good
ones used in charity projects (we
recently carpeted a cub scout hall). Tiles
not good enough for re-use are
recycled to make motorway traffic
cones.
Our travel impact
Travel impact and equivalent CO2 use
Type
Kg CO2
Air travel 7,176,797 miles 2,081,271
a year
Taxi and hire 61,272 journeys 136,183
car travel (approx 428,904 miles) 1
Air freight 109,500 kg of freight 2 5,700
Total 2,223,154
1
At an average of seven miles per journey (based on US EPA
figures for a diesel VW Passat, the nearest vehicle
comparator).
2
Based on a calculation by NTM (a Swedish software system
for calculating sustainability of transport systems) that a
24-tonne capacity Boeing 727 on a 4,000km journey
(a reasonable estimate of an average international journey)
would account for 1556.1 kg of carbon.
We have reduced our air travel by using
video and telephone conferencing and
we are committed to reducing our
travel impact by using technology to
conduct meetings and take legal
depositions where possible.
19

GRI
contents index
GRI no. GRI content
Location
GRI no. GRI content
Location
GRI no. GRI content
Location
Vision and strategy
1.1 Vision and strategy Inside front cover
1.2 CEO statement 1
Profile
2.1 Name of reporting
organisation
Inside front cover
2.2 Products and/or services Inside front cover,
inside back cover
2.3 Operational structure Inside back cover, 3
2.4 Organisation structure 3
2.5 Countries located Inside back cover
2.6 Nature of ownership 3
2.7 Nature of markets served Inside back cover
2.8 Organisation scale Inside front cover,
inside back cover
2.9 Stakeholders 6
2.10 Contact person(s) for
the report
Inside front cover
2.11 Reporting period 2
2.12 Previous report N/A
2.13 Boundaries of report 2
2.14 Organisation changes N/A
2.15 Joint ventures N/A
2.16 Re-statements of information N/A
2.17 GRI principles applied 1
2.18 Criteria/definitions used 2
2.19 Measurement methods changes N/A
2.20 Policies and internal practices 3
2.21 Independent assurance Inside front cover
2.22 Additional information 20
Structure and governance
3.1 Governance structure 3
3.2 Independence of board members N/A
3.3 Expertise of board members N/A
3.4 Board-level processes N/A
3.5 Executive compensation N/R
3.6 Key individuals 3
3.7 Mission and values statement 1
3.8 Shareholders’ mechanisms N/A
Stakeholder engagement
3.9 Major stakeholders 6
3.10 Approaches to stakeholders 6, 7
3.11 Information from stakeholders 6
3.12 Use of information 6
Policies and management systems
3.13 Explanation of precautionary approach 4
3.14 Externally developed voluntary charters N/A
3.15 Principal memberships 7
3.16 Policies for impact 4
3.17 Managing indirect impact N/R
3.18 Decisions during the reporting period N/R
3.19 Pertaining to 3P performances N/R
3.20 Status of certification N/R
Performance indicators
Economic indicators
EC1 Net sales Inside back cover
EC2 Geographic breakdown
of markets
Inside back cover
EC3 Procurement spending LFR
EC4 Percentage of contracts paid in
accordance with agreed terms
N/R
EC5 Total staff costs N/R
EC6 Distributions to capital providers N/A
EC7 Change in retained earnings N/R
EC8 Taxes N/R
EC9 Subsidies received N/A
EC10 Donations to community 12
Environmental indicators
EN1 Total material use other than water 17
EN2 Recycled materials 17, 19
EN3 Direct energy use 17
EN4 Indirect energy use N/R
EN5 Total water use 18
EN6 Land in biodiversity-rich habitats N/R
EN7 Impact on biodiversity N/R
EN8 Greenhouse gas emissions 17
EN9 Use and emissions of
ozone-depleting substances
N/R
EN10 Nox, Sox air emissions N/R
EN11 Total amount of waste LFR
EN12 Significant discharges to water by type N/R
EN13 Significant spills of chemicals etc N/A
EN14 Environmental impact of
principal products and services
N/R
EN15 Percentage of the weight of
products sold that is reclaimable
N/A
EN16 Incidents of non-compliance N/R
Social performance indicators
Labour practices
LA1 Breakdown of workforce 9
LA2 Net employment Inside back cover
LA3 Percentage employees by
independent trade union organisations N/R
LA4 Labour/management relations LFR
LA5 Occupational accidents 10, 11
LA6 Health and safety committees 10
LA7 Absentee rates N/R
LA8 Policies or programmes on HIV/AIDS N/R
LA9 Training per employee N/R
LA10 Diversity programmes 8
LA11 Diversity ratios N/R
Human rights
HR1 Human rights guidelines 8, 9
HR2 Human rights impact N/R
HR3 Human rights performance N/R
HR4 Non-discrimination 8
HR5 Freedom of association policy N/R
HR6 Child labour N/R
HR7 Forced and compulsory labour N/R
Society
SO1 Impact on communities 12
SO2 Bribery and corruption 4
SO3 Political contributions N/R
Key
N/A – not applicable
N/R – not reported
LFR – long form report; see www.freshfields.com/csr
20
In preparing this report, we have used the guidelines provided by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
More information can be found at www.globalreporting.org.

2004/05 financial results
Turnover:
£780m
Partners’ profit shares:
£354m
our
firm
2,400
lawyers
28
offices in 18 countries
Sectors
Automotive
Chemicals
Construction and
engineering
Consumer products
and retail
Defence
Energy and natural
resources
Family-owned
business
Financial
institutions
General industries
Healthcare
Leisure
Private equity
Public procurement
Telecoms, media
and technology
Transport and
logistics
5,686people
Practice areas
Antitrust, competition and trade
Corporate
Dispute resolution (including
environment, planning and regulatory)
Employment, pensions and benefits
Finance
IP/IT
Real estate
Tax

This report was printed on Evolution satin paper.
It is manufactured from 75 per cent recycled fibre and
is made using elemental chlorine-free pulp.
© Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 2005