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Younger lawyers increasingly regard Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as an important aspect of their professional lives. That’s the opinion of one of 200 leading UK lawyers who responded to a Legal Week survey about CSR in the profession. The trade magazine survey found that although three quarters of lawyers believe CSR programmes are positive for firms, more than half struggle to live up to their own. “Firms that think CSR is a 'passing fad' have their heads in the sand,” commented survey respondent David Battiscombe, a partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner, a commercial London law firm. “Younger lawyers’ desire to contribute manifests itself mainly in a positive wish to be involved in external 'help the disadvantaged' programmes rather than the more passive desire simply to avoid acting for controversial or ‘ethically challenged’ clients.” Indeed, the research showed that only one in 10 lawyers said ethics should be a major consideration in accepting new clients. The majority, two thirds, claimed law firms should consider instructions from controversial regimes or corporate clients on a case-by-case basis. Simon Ricketts, head of planning and environment at SJ Berwin, a European law firm, said partners and staff want to work for a firm whose priorities and actions are aligned with their own. Monica Burch, a litigation partner at law firm Addleshaw Goddard, which has a CSR blog, was of a similar point of view. “Most firms try hard with their CSR programmes and it is easy for people to be cynical about these issues,” she said. “But it would be nice to think some lawyers did get into this profession for idealistic reasons.”
Article about the survey on the Legal Week website Berwin Leighton Paisner SJ Berwin Addleshaw Goddard
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