Responsible business

We are a forerunner of sustainable business in the legal services industry. We promote equality, diversity and the meaningfulness of work in our field and fight climate change. Our firm has changed with the world many times over the course of its 130-year history. This legacy is the foundation for our sustainability work today.

We use internationally recognised tools in our sustainability work. We are the first Finnish law firm to join the UN Global Compact initiative. Our activities are guided by our code of conduct.

We have used the UN’s sustainable development goals as the basis for our own sustainability work. We want to play a role in promoting equality (goal 5). Work to fight climate change concerns us all (goal 13). As attorneys, we promote the rule of law (goal 16).

Balance in life

Work-life balance is a burning question in the legal services industry. According to a survey conducted by the Finnish Bar Association, both women and men find the workload as an attorney burdensome. Workload is clearly the most common reason that people of both genders leave the field.

We want to support our employees in every stage of life. In 2019, we initiated a development programme aimed at making it easier for our employees to balance daily life and work by changing attitudes, day-to-day practices and goals.

To us, equality goes beyond equality between the genders. We treat everyone equally and ensure all of our employees have equal opportunities to advance in the careers and develop their expertise. We have zero tolerance for discrimination.

Climate impact

We care for the environment and work towards a cleaner future by leaving as small an environmental footprint as possible.

We completed our second carbon footprint calculation in the spring of 2021. Our carbon footprint in 2020 was approximately 388 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e). Our largest emissions sources were business travel and heating, which made up about 67% of our footprint: business travel accounted for approximately 20% and heating for approximately 47%.

We completed our first carbon footprint calculation in 2020, which covered our footprint for 2019.

The most important function of this calculation is to spur us on in reducing our climate impact. We are going to reduce our emissions by 25% by 2025. We are currently mainly focused on reducing emissions for business travel and heating.

In addition to reducing emissions, we also offset our annual emissions.

We have measured our consumption of electricity, emissions from travel and consumption of paper since 2009, when we were the first Finnish law firm to join the WWF’s Green Office programme.