Carbon footprint reduced by 44%
The largest law firm in the world by lawyer headcount, Dentons, has trialled a new low carbon service which sees lawyers working from home, digital dashboards, and a ban on printing.
The pilot scheme saw the firm cut costs and emissions for government client Defra Legal Advisors, a limb of the Government Legal Department (GLD).
The “low carbon blueprint” was implemented across a four-month project, and cut travel emissions by hosting all meetings online, except introductory meetings. Lawyers on the scheme worked 40% of their billable hours from home. Printing was also off the agenda, with all lawyers e-signing to say that they wouldn’t print anything during the project.
A new platform, Legal Front Door, was used to automate workflow at the firm and simplify the instruction process. Dashboards were created within this to allow Defra to monitor the progress of the firm’s work and its legal spend with a 78% lower carbon intensity than using emails.
In total, Dentons cut its carbon emissions by around 120kg C02e, equivalent, the firm says, to 14,597 smartphones charges. This is a reduction of 44% to the firm’s carbon footprint across the work with Defra.
Caroline Connolly, environmental sustainability manager at Dentons, said: “Legal services represent a small but significant source of Scope 3 emissions for organisations that engage lawyers, and Dentons is eager to support its clients by reducing emissions associated with working together.”
In a sign of things to come that could signal a challenge to the ‘back to the office’ message being sent by some employers, Connolly added that she hopes to see the firm “further integrate and strengthen our proven net zero commitment into our everyday working practices and evolve our operations in partnership with our clients — something we are consciously working to do.”