Specialist healthcare lawyer and LSA member Capsticks LLP has reached the next milestone on its sustainability journey by achieving ISO 14001: The international standard for environmental management.
“Our vision is to be the firm of choice for those that work to make a difference”, explains Chief Operating Officer Neil Middleton, “and where many of our clients – particularly in the public sector – have now aligned procurement with sustainability and have a clear net zero supplier roadmap which sets out how we need to align our aims with their own targets.”
Sustainability has been a key theme with law firms that typically look for independent certification to add both transparency and credibility to their commitments.
‘’We recognise that, as a business, we ourselves have a responsibility to make a difference and that’s at the heart of one of our foundational values, doing the right thing. A key part of this is having a Responsible Business strategy that includes environmental sustainability. Doing the right thing means ensuring we’re doing all we can to reduce our output of greenhouse gases through our infrastructure, processes and systems. That’s where ISO 14001 comes in and where we know that with some key changes, we can become a much greener, cleaner firm and in doing so play our part as a responsible business.”
Capsticks are located across five UK offices and Business Services Manager, Rosie Chahal, led the team that ensured ISO 14001 was integrated as part of the day to day business in each of the offices.
“We found that we already had many of the processes needed for environmental compliance but were able to build on and improve them. There were huge benefits to us in going through the process and it helped us make the most of the compliance data from energy, waste and refrigerant which will reduce the time taken to quantify our emissions” explains Rosie. “We ran awareness sessions for key members of staff and it certainly strengthened and helped develop the team, as well as being a really positive experience.”