Responsible Business

We are committed to responsible business and to proactively contributing to the community and wider environment where we can.

We aim to have a positive impact through our main themes of responsible business activity:

• Sustainability
• Charitable Giving
• Social Impact
• Diversity and Wellbeing

We pride ourselves on the high professional standards to which we operate. This applies as much to the approach that we take to responsible business, as it does to the legal work that we do for our clients.

We have formed an internal Responsible Business working group with representation from various departments of the business including Legal, Finance, HR, Marketing, IT and Senior Leadership, which is working on our carbon management and wider responsible business journey.

Sustainability

We all have an important role to play in setting industry standards and demonstrating best practices.

In addition to our corporate commitments, Wedlake Bell recognises that the biggest difference we can make for the planet is to continue to help our clients reduce their carbon emissions. We are committed to doing this through the exploration and implementation of meaningful and measurable decarbonisation solutions.

We are committed to improving our environmental performance and leveraging our expertise, resources, and values to drive system-wide change for better business, better lives, and better solutions.

At Wedlake Bell, we support the government goal of Net Zero by 2050, albeit we openly acknowledge the realistic achievement of this goal is reliant on many factors outside of our immediate control. We are committed to doing everything reasonable and practicable to reach this goal.

To support us, we have engaged a carbon partner, Auditel, to help us accurately measure our carbon footprint and to set science-based carbon reduction targets. By embedding the annual process of measure, reduce, verify and report into our organisation, we will drive continuous improvement in our greenhouse gas emissions control and reduction. We believe this provides a transparent, uniform and rigorous approach to emission management, meaning all our stakeholders can trust in the results it reports.

All staff have been made aware of our commitment to reducing our carbon emissions and to engaging with the government’s Net Zero target. Senior Management awareness has also been raised by briefing at the Board level, resulting in support and endorsement of our proposed actions.

Social Impact

We believe that, as a successful law firm, we have a responsibility to provide vital support to those parts of the community and charitable sector that need legal representation but cannot afford it.

We actively encourage community involvement among our people, this not only makes a significant difference to those we support, but also provides a valuable opportunity for developing skills.

In 2024, Wedlake Bell joined the UK Collaborate Plan for Pro Bono. Through our membership, we have access to industry data, collaborative pro bono projects, training and information sharing.

Charitable Giving

Each year a Charity of the Year is selected. The charity we support is selected by our Charity Committee from a set of causes nominated by members of staff. The charity is usually small, with a personal connection to a member of staff. Past charities have included the National Brain Appeal, Lupus UK, The Wiseman Trust, Think Forward and Cedar House Support Group.

This year, we are proud to be supporting Footsteps Foundation. Footsteps Foundation provides invaluable and unique support to families of disabled children. Their mission is to improve quality of life for children with neurological conditions, enabling them to receive the intensive physiotherapy they need. You can find out more about this fantastic charity by clicking here.

In addition to our Charity of the Year we operate a give as you earn scheme and provide matched funding.

Diversity and Wellbeing

By fostering a culture where mental health and well-being are actively supported, we ensure that our teams thrive in a respectful, balanced and enriching workplace. We provide a working environment, education and benefits to foster the wellbeing of our people.

Wedlake Bell takes the issues affecting inequality in employment seriously. Our focus on equity ensures that everyone, regardless of background or identity, feels valued and empowered.

We have inclusive and accessible recruitment practices and retention-focused activities. This includes our partnership with Rare Recruitment which provides Contextual data for our early careers recruitment and conscious recruitment training which is provided to all early careers interviewers.

Read more about equality and diversity at Wedlake Bell here.