A few weeks ago I met a lawyer from Heinz (the makers of tomato kethcup and baked beans amongst other things). We had a chat about what firms - and individual lawyers - she instructed and it was interesting to pick up on the "who" and the "why". What surprised me most though was her assertion that in future all law firms instructed by Heinz will have to conform to Heinz's corporate social responsibility ("CSR") policies and her view was that most law firms would struggle to match Heinz's diversity requirements.
Diversity, which is another post in itself, is not so much the issue, but more the fact that this conversation confirms that some businesses are now imposing the same standards on their suppliers as they do on themselves. Actually, I suspect that diversity may be a policy in itself, outside the wider definition of CSR, but the fact remains that CSR is an increasingly important issue for all law firms, both large and small. The Lawyer is currently promoting a conference and masterclass on "CSR in Law Firms" which will be taking place in London on 22 and 23 January 2007. It claims to be "the only conference of its kind" and offers to be a "full exploration of internal CSR strategies in law firms to ensure you attract, retain and inspire both internal staff and external clients".
I don't think this can be underestimated and I am acutely aware that we don't have a clear CSR policy in place at LloydLaw. Sure, we do a bit of pro bono work from time to time, and we support some organisations that we think are worth supporting, but do we need to do more than that? From the perspective of our clients, we probably don't at this stage, but I have a more than a strong suspicion that may change.
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