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    Responsible Business

We are committed to running our business responsibly.

That means recognising that our long-term success as a responsible business depends on the health and resilience of our clients, our people, our communities and our natural environment and working hard to ensure that we make a positive contribution for all our stakeholders.

What is a Responsible Business?

For us, making a positive contribution includes:

  • Operating a safe, healthy and inclusive workplace for our people, prioritising wellbeing and attracting a diverse pool of talent to the Firm.
  • Growing our business as cleanly and sustainably as possible, with minimal impact on the environment.
  • Making an investment in our communities in order to spread the rewards of good performance more evenly.
  • Helping clients to run their businesses and serve their stakeholders as responsibly as possible.

We take our responsibility to society at large seriously and wish to have a positive impact on the world around us. We have made progress in the last year in understanding and improving our environmental impact and enhancing the value we create for people: our partners and staff, our communities and society at large.

We have reduced our carbon emissions in line with our interim targets on the path to achieving net zero by 2030 and much of our focus this year has been on refining our net zero pathway and action plan. We have strengthened the governance of our diversity and inclusion efforts, with strategy and action planning now coordinated from the very top of the business and set a further target for gender representation in leadership roles. We have also continued to strengthen our social impact programme, putting the skills, resources, networks and influence of our business at the disposal of the Charles Russell Speechlys Foundation’s charity partners.

As professional advisers, a significant part of our capacity for positive impact lies in the advice and support we give our clients. We are working with businesses across all sectors – and those who own, invest in and manage them – helping them to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of ESG, to manage risk, to scan the horizon for relevant developments, to make decisions now that future proof business and investment value and to tap into new commercial opportunities in this impact-conscious climate.

annual-review-2023-promo

2023 Annual Review

Our 2023 Annual Review reflects on our past year’s achievements, inspired by our value and purpose as a Firm.

View our Annual Review here

Our approach

Our social impact

Social Impact

Find out more about how we support the communities in which we work.

Find out more
Diversity and inclusion at Charles Russell Speechlys

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Find out more about our commitment to staff wellbeing, diversity and inclusion. 

Find out more
Our Environment

Environment

Embedding sustainability in our business and beyond for an innovative future.

Find out more

Sustainable Business

Doing well by doing good is no longer just an ethical choice.

Visit our Sustainable Business Hub

Essential reads

Our thinking

  • Foundation Fortnight 2024: A celebration of impact

    Debbie Watson

    News

  • What do new sustainability rules mean for the fashion industry?

    Ilona Bateson

    Insights

  • Preparing for additional mandatory climate-related disclosures under the new ISSB global standards

    Kerry Stares

    Insights

  • The rise of the S in ESG

    Kerry Stares

    Insights

  • Thomson Reuters quotes Simon Ridpath on the state of the 2024 UK legal market

    Simon Ridpath

    In the Press

  • The EU’s new forced labour ban: context, content and consequences for companies

    Kerry Stares

    Insights

  • Managing ESG: five tips for good ESG governance

    Kerry Stares

    Insights

  • First QFC Court Judgment on Setting Aside Arbitral Awards

    Alim Khamis FCIArb

    Insights

  • Volunteers’ Week 2024: Celebrating Our People

    News

  • Fashion and the Green Claims Code brought into focus by open letter from the CMA.

    Ilona Bateson

    Quick Reads

  • Greenwashing: The Story So Far

    Caroline Greenwell

    Insights

  • Caroline Swain writes for Startups Magazine on 'Green Claims'

    In the Press

  • Greenwashing: the story so far

    Caroline Greenwell

    Insights

  • The rise in ESG reporting requirements for UK directors and of related shareholder activism

    Stephen Burns

    Insights

  • Charles Russell Speechlys recognised as a Top 40 UK employer in the 2023 Social Mobility Employer Index

    David Savage

    News

  • How are sustainability and ESG shaping the role of in-house counsel?

    Kerry Stares

    Insights

  • Collaborating to widen access to opportunities for young people

    Debbie Watson

    News

  • Family and Employment law assistance in legal advice deserts

    Sarah Farrelly

    News

  • Charles Russell Speechlys’ UK offices receive environmental certification

    Kerry Stares

    News

  • Providing marketing and design advice to charity partners

    Debbie Watson

    News

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