An investigationnot a showcaseResponsible Business Update Report 2014

Business & ethicsWe want to be known for conducting our business ethically and with integrity.

PeopleWe want to recruit, develop and retain the best people.

CommunitiesWe aim to focus on education, raising aspirations and building employability skills within the communities where we operate.

PerformanceWe aim to be open and transparent in reporting on our responsible business activities.

Pro bonoWe can have the most impact through giving legal advice.

EnvironmentWe strive to reduce our negative environmental impact and support climate change adaptation projects.

To access our responsible business reports please go online http://www.freshfields.com/cr/

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

1

The debate about the role of business in society continues unabated. Our stakeholders, and society in general, want us to help advance a broader social agenda and not just focus on our own results. These expectations are reflected in corporate reporting requirements which are becoming ever more robust in this regard. The challenge is how, in practice, to ensure that businesses deliver on these expectations and whether they choose to go beyond the minimum level of compliance.

For us, minimum compliance is not enough. We want to conduct our business in an ethical and sustainable manner. We want to act with integrity and sensitivity to our impact on the world around us. We want to make a real and positive difference to the communities in which we operate. Not only is this expected of us, it is the right thing to do.

Corporate Responsibility (CR) is not an isolated programme. As part of our commitment to align our operations and strategy with the 10 UN Global Compact (UNGC) principles, we have sought to integrate CR into our business, including through our values, culture, operations and business decisions. This affects everything we do, from our client and mandate acceptance decisions, to our procurement processes, to the way we interact with the communities in which we operate.

Our ambition to go beyond minimum compliance remains a journey and we invite you to comment in any way that helps us move forward.

Will LawesSenior Partner

Senior partner’s statement

2

Our firm

We share our strong commitments to corporate responsibility with many of our clients; we collaborate with them on pro bono projects, volunteering, diversity and environmental activities.

Practices• Antitrust, competition and trade• Corporate• Disputes• Employment, pensions and benefits• Finance• Real estate• Tax

Sectors• Consumer and healthcare• Energy and natural resources• Financial institutions• Global financial investors • Infrastructure and transport• General industrial• Pro bono• Real estate• Telecoms, media and technology

We’re one of the world’s largest law firms, with over 2,500 lawyers worldwide. We provide business law and operate as an English limited liability partnership (LLP) in all our offices except Hong Kong, Japan and the US. We are a collegiate firm and have no head office; all 27 offices work together in the best interests of our clients. We want to be known as ‘the worldwide firm’. We partner with world-class law firms with know-how where we don’t have offices. We advise clients on transactional, contentious and regulatory work across all sectors.

5,060employees

27offices worldwide

£1,277.8mturnover

£1.65mprofit per equity partner (PEP)

3

Winner in the Work Inclusion category of the Business in the Community Responsible Business Awards 2014

Won CSR Programme of the Year at the Legal Business Awards for the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship programme

Our London office environmental management system retained

ISO 14001

Listed as a Top 100 employer in the 2014 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index

Three-year climate change adaptation partnership with the British Red Cross began in January 2014

£15.46mThe value of our community and pro bono programme

30%increase in our pro bono and community investment hours

78%response to our global engagement survey

2013–14 highlights

4

Beyond regulatory compliance, we want to conduct – and be known for conducting – our business ethically and with integrity. Not only is it the right thing to do, our clients expect it of us. Our ambition to be the leading international law firm is inextricably linked with our leadership in this field.

Our approach to responsible business

Our strategy maximises the value CR can bring to our business. We focus our efforts on where we can make the greatest difference:

• using our professional skills for the greater good (ie pro bono);

• creating a positive impact on the communities in which we operate;

• being an excellent employer, promoting inclusiveness and diversity; and

• minimising our impact on the environment.

Our material issuesOur report covers the issues that are important to our firm and our stakeholders.

Our material issues ranked as most important by employees, clients and our charitable and environmental partners are those relating to our people and our clients. They remain unchanged:

• excellent client service;

• business ethics;

• attracting and retaining talent;

• promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce;

• using our skills for good;

• minimising our environmental impact; and

• collaboration.

Responsible business at Freshfields

Pro bonoBusiness ethics

Supporting our communities

Managing ourenvironmental

impactValuing our

people

Responsiblebusiness

5

Business & ethics

• We check new clients and matters for their reputation, NGO sanctions, other client relationships and our suitability to act; our client engagement letters refer to the UNGC. We take on new clients regardless of gender, race, disability, age or sexual orientation.

• We introduced procedures reflecting the UK Solicitors Regulation Authority’s requirements in cases of client complaints which are implemented by our global client partner.

• Our global privacy officer maintains our data privacy and protection policy with regional variations, where law demands it, and reports data privacy compliance to the firm’s information security committee.

• We have a worldwide whistleblowing policy in place, including a confidential hotline.

• We continue to implement the global procurement policy including responsible business criteria introduced in 2013 and have set up a team and training across our offices to ensure our criteria are met in procurement decisions. This helps us to address any issues in our supply chain, such as the risk of forced or child labour.

Human rights and labour standardsPromoting human rights is an important goal for us. We were the first international law firm to join the UNGC and have embraced, supported and enacted its 10 principles within our sphere of influence ever since.

More recently, we have introduced a number of policies to reflect the ‘Guiding Principles’ on Business and Human Rights.

We are committed to high standards of governance and conduct our business with the ethics and integrity expected from a responsible and highly regulated business. We are subject to local bar associations’ and law societies’ ethical duties. Our policies and procedures reflect the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC); the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and the International Labour Organisation’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

6

GenderGender diversity at senior level is one of the biggest challenges we face. We’ve developed practical initiatives to improve the imbalance between the number of female lawyers we train and those who reach partnership. Our London women’s network aims to help address some of these issues. Its aim is to provide a forum for discussion, and support women investing in their personal and professional growth and increase the attractiveness of a long-term career at Freshfields for women.

Social mobilityIn 2012 we launched a long-term partnership with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. Part of this relationship is to develop the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship Scheme, to broaden access to the legal profession, by addressing the disproportionate under-representation of black men from low-income families in top law firms. The Scheme was formally launched in 2013 with six students achieving a scholarship.

Valuing our people

Supporting LGBT employeesHalo, our LGBT network, operates across all our offices. It helps LGBT colleagues connect with each other, advises the firm on LGBT issues and represents the firm at external events.

Halo holds regular meetings, networking and social events, and works with clients’ LGBT networks. LGBT employees from any of our offices and all areas of the firm are welcome. In 2014, we achieved one of our long-term goals by being listed as a Top 100 Employer in the 2014 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, the first magic circle firm to do so.

Engaging employeesOur annual employee engagement survey helps us assess staff and workplace issues. In 2013–14 we had a 78 per cent response rate. The survey showed that our people feel very proud about the quality of the work they do for clients and they’re more willing than ever to recommend Freshfields as a place to work.

To be the leading international law firm, we need to recruit, develop and retain the best people. Talent can come from anywhere, and our employees want to work in a culture that’s diverse and inclusive.

7

Valuing our people

Legal trainee

Associate

Partner

Business services

Other fee earners

Male FemaleKey:

55

46

75

67

12

45

54

25

33

88

*Figure refers to average number of employees excluding contingency staff and contractors. This data has been independently assured by Deloitte LLP.

Global

Employee profile by gender* (per cent)

London

DACEE (Germany and Austria)

Asia

ROCE (Rest of Central Europe)

MENA

USA

1,931

1,344

1,005

85

269

426

* Core employee numbers include employees on maternity and client secondment, and whose contract types are permanent, fixed-term or self-employed.

Global workforce by region*

8

We take proactive steps to shape the areas in which we work especially around:

• the rule of law;

• access to justice; and

• work to support the Millennium Development Goals.

The work our pro bono programme takes on ranges from one-off legal interventions on important areas of law, to supporting the legal needs of global NGOs tasked with assisting the world’s most vulnerable people and hundreds of different matters in between.

Over the past year we have seen our programme reach over 56,000 hours – the most pro bono hours we have ever recorded.

We are legal adviser to Save the Children International, a global child rights NGO that operates in over 120 countries. The legal issues it faces are multi-faceted and multi-jurisdictional which, as a global law firm, we are able to support fully.

Pro bono

We have a professional responsibility to use our legal knowledge for the public good. We have the most impact when we do what we do best: giving legal advice.

HomelessnessOur London office has a longstanding focus on homelessness. We staff a housing law clinic at Tower Hamlets Law Centre (and send a trainee to their housing team on secondment). We also work closely with Shelter, both on casework involving homeless children and in strategic interventions at the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Last year we were awarded ‘CSR Initiative of the Year’ in the British Legal Awards for our groundbreaking pro bono work tackling youth homelessness.

2013–14 highlights

We worked on 483 matters for 292 clients.

We recorded 56,323 pro bono hours, an all-time record for the firm.

1,100 lawyers worked on pro bono cases, 42 per cent of average fee-earner headcount

9

Discover Your Talent (Brussels)An annual one-day training session to help young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods with CV writing, interview techniques, discovering personal strengths, using social media and presentation skills.

START Foundation (Berlin, Cologne and Frankfurt)A series of workshops which help young people from immigrant backgrounds understand more about careers in law and encourage a more diverse group to consider the legal profession.

Ready for Work (London)A work experience, training and job coaching programme, run in partnership with Business in the Community, which aims to break the cycle of homelessness. Winner in the Work Inclusion category of the Business in the Community Responsible Business Awards 2014.

‘Ban the Box’ (London)We believe businesses can play a large part in cutting reoffending through employment which is why we became the first law firm to support Business in the Community’s ‘Ban the Box’ campaign. The campaign encourages employers to remove the tick-box asking about criminal convictions from their application forms, moving

disclosure to later in the recruitment process so candidates are judged on their suitability for the role and skills first.

Legal Outreach (New York)A week-long internship for exceptional high school students from underserved communities during which they learn professional skills through law related activities, including a mock trial and due diligence exercises.

Un jour, un métier (Paris)An annual discovering business day for a class of pupils from a disadvantaged Parisian suburb followed by a trip to the Paris Courts of Justice and a two-week work experience placement.

European Law Students’ Association (Rome)Our Rome office has partnered with European Law Students’ Association (ELSA), an international, non-political and non-profit-making organisation run by and for students. ELSA offers law students (including recent graduates) a platform to develop their existing skills, acquire new skills and meet fellow students and legal professionals throughout Europe, hosting a number of academic and professional events each year.

Communities

At Freshfields, the global theme of our community investment programme is social inclusion. Our projects focus on education, raising aspirations and building employability skills within the communities where we operate. Examples from across our offices show how we work to achieve this.

10

Our carbon impactOur biggest carbon impacts are from energy in our buildings and business travel. We aim to reduce our carbon footprint and the impact we have on the environment.

Adapting to climate changeThe firm has been carbon neutral since 2007. We buy offsets from projects that provide social and economic benefits as well as environmental ones.

Our climate change adaptation project, as voted for by staff, started with the British Red Cross in January 2014. The three-year project will benefit over 60,000 local people in Bangladesh by preparing for natural disasters and building resilience. We are also integrating this relationship across the firm through pro bono assistance and employee activities such as first aid training.

Environment

One of the greatest positive impacts we have on the environment is through our legal advice. Our energy and natural resources sector group brings together over 100 partners and a wide group of associates from across our network of offices who regularly advise in the wide area of energy and natural resources, one of which is the Low Carbon group. This group helps clients meet their climate change goals.

Using resources responsiblyGlobal paper purchased Global waste disposal1 Global water use2

511 tonnes

1,808 tonnes

100,419m3

1. This data has been independently assured by Deloitte LLP. 2. This year’s data only counts once water has been withdrawn and returned as waste water.

11

Key performance indicators

Indicator 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 Targets May 2015

Total number of employees 5,266 4,859 5,060 N/A

Female partners (per cent) 12 12 124 N/A

Gross carbon footprint per capita (tonnes CO2e)1

4.79 4.70 4.534 4.50

Gross direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions – scopes 1 and 2; fossil fuels and refrigerants; electricity (tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent – CO2e)2

15,646 15,893 14,6264 14,216

Total gross indirect greenhouse gas emissions – scope 3; business travel (tonnes CO2e)2

9,654 11,325 13,2494 10,288

Gross carbon footprint (tonnes CO2e)3

25,299 27,214 27,8764 24,504

Employees involved in pro bono and community investment programmes (per cent)

39 37 394 50

Total hours contributed to pro bono and community investment programmes

51,498 60,878 79,1054 N/A

Total community contributions (£m) including management costs

8.96 10.48 15.464 N/A

Participation in UK payroll giving (per cent)

5 5 5 10

Turnover (£m) 1,177 1,229 1,278 N/A

Profit per equity Partner (PEP) (£m) 0.94 0.94 1.65 N/A

1. Per capita figures include contractors. 2. 2011-12 and 12-13 data has been restated using DEFRA’s carbon factor. 3. Calculated by Corporate Citizenship using DEFRA’s carbon factor. 4. This data has been independently assured by Deloitte LLP. Data was estimated for six sites. Parts of the data were estimated for electricity (Washington, Amsterdam); fuel diesel (Milan); and gas (Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich).

12

UN Global Compact (UNGC)

We have been a proud participant of the UNGC since March 2009. As a result, we are required to report on how we have advanced the 10 principles with respect to human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption within our sphere of influence. This Responsible Business Update Report 2014 also acts as our annual communication on progress.

Issue UNGC principle

Human rights Principle 1 – Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.

Principle 2 – Businesses should make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Labour Principle 3 – Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

Principle 4 – Businesses should uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour.

Principle 5 – Businesses should uphold the effective abolition of child labour.

Principle 6 – Businesses should uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Environment Principle 7 – Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.

Principle 8 – Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.

Principle 9 – Businesses should encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

Anti-corruption Principle 10 – Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

13

Reporting and independent assurance

This report includes data covering the period 1 May 2013 to 30 April 2014. For more information please see our Basis of Reporting, which outlines the scope and calculation methodology of each of our KPIs www.freshfields.com/cr/. This document also identifies the indicators where methodological or estimation changes have impacted upon our reported KPIs.

We have sought external assurance for our CR reports since 2007–08.

Deloitte LLP has issued an unqualified opinion using limited level assurance in accordance with ISAE3000 on

selected performance indicators contained within this Report. A copy of their Independent Assurance Statement is available at www.freshfields.com/cr/

External Recognition 2013–14

Awarded ‘CSR Initiative of the Year’ in the British Legal Awards for our pro bono work

tackling youth homelessness

Winner in the Work Inclusion category for our Ready for Work programme (London)

Listed as a Top 100 employer in the 2014 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index

London Office Operations only. LRQA are our UKAS accredited assessor

freshfields.com

freshfields.com

This material is provided by the international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (a limited liability partnership organised under the law of England and Wales) (the UK LLP) and the offices and associated entities of the UK LLP practising under the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer name in a number of jurisdictions, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP, together referred to in the material as ‘Freshfields’. For regulatory information please refer to www.freshfields.com/support/legalnotice.

The UK LLP has offices or associated entities in Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, China, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP has offices in New York City and Washington DC.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide legal advice.

© Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, January 2015, 02262