Case studies

Committing to meet international standards for the firm’s environmental management system, Allen & Overy has taken the first steps and is now in the final stages of achieving ISO14001 certification.

Running a regional climate conference gave Andrew Jackson’s own internal Green Team the motivation to try and change the firm’s own working practices to become more environmentally friendly.

Cobbetts discovered that, despite being a tenant in a multi-office building, there is always something you can do to take action on the environment.

In January 2007, DLA Piper launched the Global Sustainability Initiative to affirm our commitment to reducing environmental impact and conducting business responsibly. We achieved global certification to ISO 14001 in December 2007.

Achieving ISO 14001 certification for all eight UK office locations in 2003 was the foundation for DLA Piper’s push towards its goal of global certification, which it achieved in 2007.

Eversheds has 10 offices in the UK. The firm fully occupies some buildings, but is a tenant in others. This presented the firm with challenges in measuring its carbon footprint.

Using the data from the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management, Freshfields has learnt that air travel and electricity are where it needs to make the most significant carbon reduction. It has now set a target of 10% reduction by May 2008.

Irwin Mitchell is an international law firm with seven offices throughout the UK and two in Spain, with a PC estate of approximately 2,500 computers. They decided to look at their computer usage as a way to make energy savings.

As a global law firm with 30 offices in 23 countries measuring its carbon footprint seemed like a daunting task. But having overcome that challenge, Linklaters has now set a target of reducing its carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 from a 2006/07 baseline.

Wragge & Co has taken practical eco-efficient steps and engaged employees on its environmental priorities, resulting in waste reductions and costs savings for the firm.