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Linklaters

Responsibility and sustainability are at the heart of how we operate as a business.

Our people, our clients and wider society have growing expectations of our firm and expect us to make the right choices. Whether directly through operations or, more significantly, indirectly through advice to clients, we know that we are in a position to make a real and lasting difference, whether close to our offices or much further afield. Accountability and transparency underpin this work, using key external benchmarks and standards to demonstrate our commitment.

Key dimensions

1

How we work

We are proud of our purpose and our values which ensure that we approach and undertake our work with integrity. Our Ethical Code underlines this commitment. Our market-leading ESG practice seeks to advise clients on a range of environmental, social and governance issues and we are conscious of the need to follow our own advice in our own operations.
2

Our people

We want to be known as the ‘best in class’ firm for diversity & inclusion. Our people should feel safe at work, be fairly-rewarded and see their health and wellbeing properly addressed. As a responsible business, it is important that we create an inclusive culture in which everyone – regardless of background, identity and circumstance – can reach their full potential.

3

Our supply chain

Our Supplier Code of Conduct and Sustainable Procurement Policy set out our expectation that our suppliers will maintain the highest standards of human rights and sustainability in their workplace and wider operations. We work with providers including social enterprises and minority-owned businesses and aim for an open dialogue and a collaborative approach to issues such as climate change, a Living Wage and social mobility.

4

Environmental impact

We understand the importance of the changing climate and strong environmental management. We continue to look for opportunities to reduce our impacts and associated emissions, including through energy and resource efficiency, waste prevention, sustainable travel and supply chain engagement. Already leaders in our sector – both in operations and client advice – we know there is more to do and we are fully committed to playing our part.
5

Social Impact

We are driven to make a difference, to our clients and to the world we live in. Our social impact work is about empowering people around the world and helping them to transform their lives. We seek to achieve this by drawing on all our skills and capabilities, investing millions in time and money every year across hundreds of causes and locations globally.

We act with integrity, not just doing things right but doing the right thing.

Take a look at what else we're prioritising:

Accountability

Standards & frameworks

We align our work to environmental standards including Science-based Targets, CDP, and ISO14001. Our social impact work is measured by Business for Societal Impact while we are longstanding participants of the UN Global Compact and actively support UNGC networks in the UK and Japan.

Sustainable Development Goals

We have reviewed our business against the SDGs and use them to highlight the contribution made not only by our direct operations and social impact activities but by much of our advice to clients too. We are committed to working alongside the UN and others in leading work on Goal 16 as well as advancing the Global Goals movement through established partnerships and new collaborations.

Key documents

Transparency is critical and so we are placing more and more of what has hitherto been internal guidance into the public domain. ‘Our Ethical Code’ steers our behaviour while our ‘Purpose and Values’ provide an overarching context. We also share details of our governance and risk management on linklaters.com. Our Tax Policy and Modern Slavery statement are both legal obligations in the UK as is our Diversity Pay Gap report. We also share our policies on Sustainable Procurement and Environment, both supported by extensive additional material.

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