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CSR & Sustainability
Current State of the Legal Industry Report 2018
Table of Contents
www.lfsnetwork.org 2
7 Firm Focus
8 Wishlist Projects
9 Effectiveness
10 Success Factors
11 Useful Tools
12 Outlook
1 Leading Sustainability Efforts
2 Importance to Stakeholders
3 RFPS & Sustainability
4 Positive Effects
5 Budgets
6 Challenges 13 Legal Industry Tackle
CSR & Sustainability
Current State of the Legal Industry Report 2018
This report explores to what extent law firms believe
corporate social responsibility & sustainability to be
important and its effects on both the bottom line and
engagement. The report identifies challenges law
firms face as well as factors for success in furthering
CSR & sustainability program efforts.
1. Leading Sustainability Efforts
www.lfsnetwork.org 3
Q: Who leads your sustainability efforts?
82%
have sustainability
leadership
26%
7%
13%
17%
20%
15%
19%
13%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%35%
equity ownership
leading efforts
Most firms have leadership guiding their sustainability programs by
equity owners, committees, or senior administrators. Sustainability
leaders roles vary, but generally, leaders are providing direction,
developing initiatives, measuring and managing programs.
Depending on leadership background, focus also varies, from
facilities and operations to external client facing initiatives and
broader corporate citizenship.
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q1: 54
2. Importance to Stakeholders
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12%
29%24%
8%
16%
48%
54%57%
61%
61%
22%
13%10%
20%
16%10%
4% 6%4%8%
4% 4% 4% 2%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Partners Associates Professional Staff Existing Clients New ClientsVery Important Somewhat Important Neutral Little Important Not Important
Q: How important do you think sustainability is to your
various stakeholder groups today?
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018.
Respondents N: 55 Q2: P:50, A:48, PS:49, EC:49, NC:49
The majority of firms said sustainability is important to partners,
associates, and new and existing clients. Less than 20%
believed that sustainability was of little to no importance in each
stakeholder group.
Some firms commented that they have other stakeholders that
consider sustainability very important, specifically vendors,
Millennials and new recruits.
3. RFPs and Sustainability
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Most2%
Many17%
Some29%
Few37%
None15%
Q: Does your firm receive RFPs or requests for information that
include asking for your firm’s sustainability policies or values?
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q3: 48
85%
The vast majority of firms report receiving RFPs or Requests for
Information on sustainability policies or values at some point in
time. There are some firms who receive these requests frequently
and others that have not received any such requests. Possible
factors include clients’ public status, CSR and sustainability goals,
and respondents’ awareness of firm’s RFP pipeline.
15%19%
Has Received Receives Majority of the Time Never Received
4. Positive Effects
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22%
31%27%
59%
51%
74%
36% 37%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Yes No Don't Know
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018.
Respondents N: 55 Q4: RV:46, CA:45, CR:45, CE:44, RP:45, EM:47, RC45, PR:43
Q: Has any part of your sustainability program had
a positive effect on your firm?
74%
A majority of firms have seen the positive effects of their
sustainability program on the morale of employees, cost
efficiencies and firm reputation.
A majority of firms have been less able to identify positive
effects on revenue, client attraction, and client retention.
22%59%
Employee Morale Cost Efficiencies Revenue
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A small percentage of firms are seeing a budget increase for their
sustainability programs. A majority of firms do not have a specific
budget for sustainability programs. There were no reported
decreases in sustainability budgets.
Increase8%
Neutral35%No Specific
Budget57%
5. Budgets
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q5: 49
Q: How does your sustainability budget compare with
last year’s budget?
0%
Budget Decrease
8%
Budget Increase
6. Challenges
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The most cited challenge was overall employee engagement, including,
compliance, awareness, apathy, and keeping momentum. Part of the
broader engagement scope, firms also struggled with leadership buy-in.
The next most cited challenge was allocating resources, whether
budget, staffing or time. Many also struggled with developing a
framework around their sustainability program, including how to
implement initiatives as well as metrics and business justification.
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q6: 39
Q: What are your top 3 challenges in your sustainability program?
Please Rank.
54%
8%
15%
5%
5%
8%
5%
14%
23%
9%
17%
17%
14%
6%
41%
7%
10%
10%
7%
7%
17%
Employee Engagement
Leadership Buy-In
Resources
ROI, Tracking & Benchmarking
Communication & Awareness
Program Implementation
Program Structure &Organization
% of Total First Rank Responses
% of Total Second Rank Responses
% of Total Third Rank Responses
Employee Engagement, 36%
Leadership Buy-In, 12%
Resources, 12% ROI, Tracking & Benchmarking, 11%
Communication & Awareness, 10%
Program Implementation, 10%
Program Structure & Organization, 9%
7. Firm Focus
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The most cited focus for 2018 was employee engagement, in
line with the most cited challenge. Firms were focusing on
program recruiting, program ideas, and communications.
Firms looked to reduce environmental impact through
addressing new buildouts, reducing carbon footprint and
technology innovations.
Firms are also looking at social impact, in addition to, or to
integrate with environmental sustainability initiatives.
11%
15%
23%21%
10%12%
7%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q7: 44
Q: What is your firm's focus in its sustainability program for 2018?
8. Wishlist Projects
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The vast majority of firms cited waste/consumption projects
as wishlist items, with paper and energy being the most
mentioned. Notable wishlist items included gardens,
reporting/tracking as well as volunteerism.
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q8: 24
Q. What are your top 3 projects that you would like to implement in
your firm if budget were not an issue? Please rank.
21% 21%
4%
8% 8% 8%
4% 4% 4% 4% 4% 4%
16%
5%
21%
11% 11%
5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 5%
13%
19%
6% 6%
13%
6% 6%
13% 13%
6%
% of Total First Rank Responses % of Total Second Rank Responses % of Total Third Rank Responses
9. Effectiveness
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Almost half of firms believe that their sustainability program
is effective, although nearly the same number of firms report
that they do not measure the effectiveness of their program.
Very Effective
12%
Moderately Effective
29%
Not So Effective as We Would
Like17%
We Don't Measure
Effectiveness42%
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q9: 48
Q: How effective is your firm's sustainability program?
10. Success Factors
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Most firms identified senior executive support as one of the most important factors to a successful program.
Many firms also cited this as one of the top 3 challenges.
80%Senior Executive
Support
65%Communication &
Engagement
43%Impact on
Revenue
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q10: 46
Q. What factors contribute the most to a successful sustainability program?
11. Useful Tools
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The vast majority of firms believe that the sharing of best
practices in the industry would be useful. More than half
would find it useful to track sustainability information.
13%Becoming
Certified
38%Benchmarking with a Scorecard
24%Carbon Footprinting
73%Best Practices
42%Finding Sustainable Vendors
56%Tracking Sustainability Information
11%UNSD
Goals
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q11: 45
Q. Which of these would be useful for your sustainability program?
12. Outlook
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A majority of firms believe that the outlook for sustainability
in law firms is good in the near future. Less than 10%
believe the outlook is poor.
27%
37%
29%
6%
2%
Very Good Good Neutral Poor Very Poor
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q12: 48
Q. What do you think is the outlook for sustainability programs in
law firms over the next 2-3 years?
13. Key Issues for Legal Sector
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A majority of firms believes the legal industry should tackle waste
and consumption. More than half that cited consumption believe
that paper consumption should be a focus.
Some firms would like to see the legal industry address commercial
tenant issues and policy. Waste/Consumption62%
Carbon Footprint17%
Best Practices7%
Unsure7%
Policy3%
Commercial Tenant
3%
Paper61%
Travel17%
Source: LFSN Sustainability Survey 2018. Respondents N: 55 Q13: 29
Q. What sustainability issue do you think the legal industry
should tackle? Is your firm supportive of this issue?
www.lfsnetwork.org 16
What we do. The LFSN is in part supported by the generosity of the
Leadership Council of Firms
LFSN members include many of the top US law firms committed to promoting
environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility in the legal industry.
ALISS is an online self-assessment tool used by firms to measure key aspects of
sustainability and to identify specific areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.
LFSN fosters knowledge sharing and collaboration through webinars, roundtables and
resources, including on-demand learning and case studies that explore a wide-range of
sustainability topics.
Dedicated to law firm sustainability
Committed to improvement
Devoted to knowledge-sharing
www.lfsnetwork.org 17
Contact Us
732.309.2946
gjoshi@ecoanalyze.com
www.www.lfsnetwork.org
206-499-6890
pamelacone@amityadvisory.com
www.amityadvisory.com
The Law Firm Sustainability Network conducted an online survey from
May – July 2018. Fifty-three US-based law firms responded. A
majority of law firms respondents are from leading US or global law
firms with 250-1,000+ attorneys. Questions and categories are listed
in the order that they were presented in the survey, excluding
Challenges question, in which categories are listed by highest to
lowest percentage cited mentions
.
The LFSN CSR & Sustainability Current State of the Legal Industry
2018 Survey was conducted in collaboration with Pamela Cone, a
graduate student in Corporate Social Responsibility and Founder and
CEO of Amity Advisory.
EcoAnalyze’ s employee engagement tools were used to conduct the
LFSN Survey.
Endnotes
Gayatri Joshi Pamela Cone
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