Corporations increasingly subscribe to the principle of corporate social responsibility. CSR is based on the belief that a demonstration of concern for the environment, human rights, community improvement and the welfare of their workers can make a corporation extra lucrative. And if not extra lucrative, at least a improved location to work.
Law firms can learn from corporate encounter to produce their personal social duty programs. Such applications can assistance law firms to do well by performing fantastic. They can strengthen the firm’s reputation and market position. They can assist the firm recognize with the culture and CSR activities of clients and possible consumers. They can help lawyers and staff locate much more which means in their operate and boost as human beings.
In the words of the social responsibility Karma Committee at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck: Be sort. Be generous. Be concerned. Donate time. Donate effort. Donate income. Just find a trigger and give. You’ll speedily find out giving is also receiving.
A panel discussion about how law firms can learn about CSR and introduce some of its components into their own models was sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association. The program was held May possibly eight at Maggiano’s Tiny Italy in downtown Denver.
Panelists incorporated Sarah Hogan, vice president of Barefoot PR Bruce DeBoskey, lawyer and founder of The DeBoskey Group, which focuses on philanthropic advising Joyce Witte, Community Investment Advisor and director of the Encana Cares Foundation, Encana Oil & Gas (USA) and Amy Venturi, director of community relations & karma at Brownstein. Moderator was Cori Plotkin, president of Barefoot PR.
At law firms, the product is the men and women – the lawyers and support employees who provide higher high quality legal solutions. It is an simple match. There are numerous ways that this ‘product’ can contribute time, talent and treasure to socially accountable activities.
Social duty: Focus and tactic
Law firm social responsibility is all about producing a difference within the community and the profession, and within a firm. Even the greatest efforts will make no impact if spread also thin. You cannot maximize the value of your contributions or inform your story if your efforts are too diluted. To make a decision how to most proficiently invest its resources, a law firm demands a social duty concentrate and a tactic.
Social duty efforts will have to be genuine. Law firms and other entities should really always keep away from ‘green-washing’ – telling a story that is aspirational, but not really accurate. Know yourself. Let your firm’s exclusive culture and skills figure out which efforts to pursue and which to stay away from.
When examining your culture, don’t limit your self to companion input. Law firms are compact communities, nearly like households. Any effort to define culture and social responsibility ought to represent not only the interests of lawyers, but the interests of all levels of support staff. Efforts need to be meaningful all through the firm. The positive aspects to employee recruitment, retention and satisfaction can be outstanding.
DeBoskey outlined 3 forms of neighborhood involvement and stated his belief that a excellent social responsibility strategy incorporates components of all three.
In a traditional model, an organization ‘gives back’ randomly to the neighborhood when asked – as a fantastic citizen, rather than for any strategic purposes. In a social responsibility model, these efforts align with the capabilities of the company – like the legal skills of lawyers. Each and every non-profit requires legal guidance.
At it’s most sophisticated, a social duty system includes working with your core item – legal services – as a tool for social change. Volunteer with organizations like the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal Program at the University of Denver, or the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center.
A sturdy concentrate makes it significantly less difficult to make choices. Encana, for instance, focuses its charitable providing method on troubles surrounding its solution — organic gas. Dennis Hernandez Tampa will donate income only if the request comes from a client, or if one particular of their attorneys is a member of the organization and on the board.
Law firms looking for more suggestions can uncover beneficial sources within the Corporate Community Investment Network. CCIN is an association for professionals whose main responsibility is to manage community investment programs in a for-profit company setting.
Numerous corporations and a few law firms have actually created separate foundations to mange some of their giving. A foundation comes with much more restrictions and different tax methods. As entities with a life of their own, however, foundations are additional probably than 1-off efforts to continue a helpful existence.
Social responsibility: Excellent policies make very good decisions
Method and concentrate present the foundation for an successful social responsibility policy. Most law firms are inundated with requests from fantastic causes asking for their help. A policy aids you know when to say “yes” to and when to say “no.”
In the law firm model, exactly where all partners are owners with a sense of entitlement to sources, it can be really challenging to say no. A keenly focused policy tends to make it a lot easier to do so and maintain the firm’s efforts on track.
Encana, for example, makes use of a 5-step tool to decide the level of fit involving a request and the company’s strategic targets in the field of all-natural gas – with level five being the largest commitment and level 1 the lowest.
Level 5 efforts integrate core item or service and typically involve organic gas autos and energy efficiency initiatives employing all-natural gas. These efforts contribute to ideal practices and leading trends in the industry, while enhancing the company’s reputation as a leader.
Level four efforts focus on strategic partnerships and typically involve sustainable and long-term solutions like workforce development initiatives, signature applications (which can be repeated in other markets) and multi-year grants.
Level three efforts incorporate strategic grants to help with projects, programs or initiatives created to neighborhood non-income aligned with organic gas.