William Fry has a long history of conducting business responsibly and giving back to the community.
Our approach to sustainability is guided by our values of big thinking, energetic engagement, and powerfully principled, which shapes the way we do business. Operating responsibly is a fundamental part of our business strategy, and we strive to embed environmental, social, and governance considerations throughout the company. We have a range of sustainable and ethical practices, including building strong relationships with clients and the community, working towards greater environmental sustainability, and ensuring responsible governance in our supply chain. We are grateful for the support of senior sponsors, committees, and partners, as well as all employees who have contributed to the sustainable business program. Together, they have made a positive and lasting impact.
Environmental sustainability is a crucial aspect of William Fry’s Sustainable Business program and a fundamental component of our business strategy. We are dedicated to managing the environmental impact of our operations, including energy consumption, waste production, paper usage, and business travel. Additionally, we strive to make a positive impact on sustainability through investments in biodiversity, raising awareness among staff, and providing advice to clients. We are proud to be part of the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and have set science-based carbon emissions reduction targets for our entire carbon footprint (Scope 1, 2 & 3).
Social sustainability is a vital aspect of our business strategy, which encompasses areas such as diversity equity and inclusion (DE&I), wellbeing and social impact (community and pro bono).
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I)
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) form a key part of our business strategy. Fostering a diverse workforce enables us to attract and retain the best, brightest and broadest range of talent. Creating an inclusive environment where people are encouraged to reach their full potential enables us to harness the unique perspectives and experiences of our staff to provide innovative solutions to our clients. Our aim is to celebrate diversity and promote inclusion. Our goal is to ensure that everyone has a voice and to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of our people, our clients and our community.
Wellbeing
William Fry is committed to providing a healthy working environment and to improving the quality of working lives for everyone who works for the Firm. We believe that the wellbeing of our staff is critical to creating a positive working environment that promotes engagement, performance and achievement. The Health & Wellbeing programme focusses on physical, mental, social and financial health.
Social Impact
The Social Impact Committee is at the heart of William Fry’s commitment to corporate social responsibility. The committee focuses on enhancing the wellbeing of our communities by driving initiatives that support charitable causes, pro bono work, and volunteering. Our social impact efforts are wide-ranging, but center around inclusion, well-being, and social responsibility.
Our Strategic Charity Partners 2024-2026
For the current community partnership term (2024-2026), our employees have chosen to focus on supporting the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and ALONE. Through these partnerships, the Firm has committed to a €60,000 donation to each charity over the three-year term, alongside providing opportunities for our employees to volunteer their time. Our internal community committee plays a vital role in supporting fundraising efforts and organising volunteer initiatives throughout the partnership.
Pro Bono
William Fry joined Pro Bono Pledge Ireland as a founding signatory. The Pledge is the first collaborative effort in Ireland to articulate the shared professional responsibility of lawyers to promote access to justice and provide pro bono legal assistance to those in need. The Pledge provides a common definition of Pro Bono, a commitment to a minimum aspirational target of 20 Pro Bono hours per lawyer per year, and a mechanism to benchmark progress through annual reporting of anonymous pro bono data. In 2023 we began our partnership with Community Law & Mediation (CLM) and with our first partnership project launching in 2024, this involved William Fry solicitors volunteering weekly in CLM’s Phone Advisory Clinic Programme.
The key to the successful implementation of William Fry’s sustainable business programme is our robust governance framework, which ensures the strategic execution of our sustainability and responsibility objectives. This framework is designed to align with our values and guide our actions across all areas of sustainable business.
- Steering Committee: Provides overarching direction and strategy for the programme, ensuring that all activities are aligned with our long-term sustainable business goals.
- Senior Sponsors: Guide the action plans for each pillar of our sustainable business programme, offering leadership and expertise to drive initiatives forward.
- Pillar Committees: Support activities at a tactical level, focusing on the specific objectives and initiatives within each pillar, ensuring that we meet our targets and continuously improve.
- Responsible Business Manager: Acts as a centralised support function, underpinning and coordinating all activities related to the sustainable business programme. This role ensures that our initiatives are well-integrated across the Firm and that progress is monitored effectively.
We are pleased to launch our Responsible Business Annual Report 2023.
At William Fry, we view our impact on the world as integral to our success and approach sustainability not just as a business priority, but as a reflection of who we are.
We are grateful to our partners for their support in helping us strengthen the impact of all of our key initiatives in the areas of diversity equity and inclusion, environmental sustainability, wellbeing and social impact.
