SUSTAINABILITY IMPROVEMENTS MADE AT WORLD'S LARGEST LAW FIRM

EDP helps Dentons achieve ISO 14001 and identify cost saving opportunities 

BACKGROUND

Dentons is the world’s largest law firm, with more than 7,500 lawyers and professionals providing a truly global reach.

The firm works in a demanding environment, with Dentons’ building needs constantly changing to reflect the projects and key cases it works on; this makes the management of its sustainability performance vitally important.

When tendering for work, Dentons’ clients were increasingly interested in its sustainability activities and values, giving them added importance to the business.

To this end, Dentons employed the services of EDP to identify and then make improvements in the Firm’s sustainability performance, including the strengthening of the sustainability elements of its supplier engagement process.

APPROACH

EDP’s consultants undertook a full review of the environmental and sustainability performance of the Firm in order to identify key areas of strength along with areas where performance improvements could be made.

EDP then assisted the firm in the development of a clear environmental and sustainability strategy, including working with key contractors and suppliers to ensure they had a full understanding of the firm’s requirements and, even more importantly, that they were able to meet them.

RESULTS

Both Dentons and its suppliers have benefitted from EDP’s approach.

EDP helped Dentons achieve ISO 14001 certification, which enables the firm to demonstrate a level of confidence in its own performance to clients. EDP also rolled out a non-financial performance reporting software tool within the firm that makes it much easier for Dentons to assess its performance and report to its stakeholders.

Furthermore, EDP has helped Dentons identify real cost saving opportunities through being more efficient with the resources it uses, as well as raising awareness of the firm’s sustainability performance among its employees. As a result, sustainability plays a more prominent role in the business decision making process.

As Dentons continues to grow, it must meet the challenges of effectively monitoring and measuring its sustainability performance across an ever-expanding property portfolio; it therefore sees a continuing relationship with EDP as a key strength going forward.