Working with suppliers

A legal services firm’s most significant environmental impact is indirect – both upstream (the impact of its suppliers and their products) and downstream (the impact of transactions conducted by clients with the firm’s advice).

With this in mind, the Legal Sector Alliance is looking at how firms can adopt sustainable procurement practices and influence their suppliers.

Members have prepared a discussion paper, which looks at some of the key issues faced by firms in identifying, measuring, verifying and reducing the environmental impact of their upstream suppliers, and a table showing the key areas of consumption in a typical firm and some of the questions you might ask to help evaluate supplier sustainability. Please let us know if you find this helpful and if you have additional questions to add.

Business in the Community’s Marketplace team has put together a presentation, which gives an overview of responsible supply chain management and how firms might start work on this area. We will be developing further materials to support firms on this topic, so do let us know what you would find useful and share your experiences by uploading a case study.