2005/6 CSR Report - Freshfields

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.
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