Conclusion: Justice and responsibility

We are rightly proud and protective of our values and culture, which are the bedrock of our business and which continue to drive our shared success.

They inform all we do and the decisions we make.

They have ensured that we have moved quickly to make big calls on pressing issues, not least our early intervention to become 100% carbon neutral through offsetting. We know of course that this is, in many ways, a stop-gap measure as we pursue reductions of our direct emissions. But it was the right thing to do, even as we acknowledge that there is still more to do.

We have set out our commitments to make clear just what those things are that we need, and want, to do, and to achieve.

It is no surprise that, taken together, initiatives and objectives relating to our people make up the largest portion of our commitments.

We are, of course, a people business. Our team is the heart of our firm.

The professionalism, personal pursuits and passions of our people are what make us unique. This is made plain by some of the case studies of the extraordinary work that our lawyers have delivered for clients – bringing home the role of the law, and lawyers, in transforming human lives through access to justice.

That’s what this report, and our underlying approach to responsible business, is about. Justice writ large – for our planet and environment, our people, our clients and our wider communities.

That pursuit remains our unbridled commitment, and at the core of our responsible business strategy.