Law firm, Henry Davis York today (Monday) released its fourth annual sustainability report, Imagine4, which outlines the firm's achievements and challenges in sustainability for the financial year ending 30 June 2011.
Highlights of the report include a 17% increase in the firm's contribution to pro bono hours, the implementation of a partner development program and the firm's citation as an Employer of Choice for Women by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.
"Imagine4exemplifies the firm's commitment to sustainability and outlines our achievements from the previous year as well as the work that remains to be done," said Henry Davis York's chief operating officer, Kelvin O'Connor.
"Our goal is to be a leader in the development and implementation of sustainable business practises in the professional services sector," Sharon Cook said.
She said the commitment was manifested in many ways starting with including Henry Davis York's sustainability goals and the actions needed to take to achieve them in the firm's annual strategic plan.
"Sustainability is now a pre-requisite for doing business. Clients seek to align themselves with service providers that understand the importance of sustainability to their businesses and to help them achieve their sustainability objectives," she said.
"Our commitment is also evidenced by our wholehearted support of the Australian Legal Sector Alliance of which we are a founding member. Kelvin O'Connor, our foremost champion of sustainability and COO, is an integral and hardworking member of its committee. Through this channel we support public advocacy for sustainability, particularly in the professional services sector."
Henry Davis York's sustainability report is a transparent account of the firm's sustainability progress and challenges. The firm has identified one of its key issues as being an increase in energy consumption despite the implementation of more energy efficient lighting systems.
"This increase means we need to further consider our office environment which may be as simple as implementing more lighting controls in the building," Kelvin O'Connor said.
"We also can expect energy use to fluctuate from year to year," he said. "While energy consumption has increased, our use of water has decreased by 10% in absolute terms."
Henry Davis York launched its first sustainability report in 2008 to enable a transparent account of its performance and commitment to sustainability and the challenges the firm has set in this area.
Imagine4 is available from the firm's website at www.hdy.com.au.
Editors' Note
In 2008, the firm became the first Australian legal services provider to initiate a fully fledged sustainability program. It also produced a sustainability report the same year and has continued this practise since to enable year-on-year comparisons on its sustainability practises.