Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie has released its 2022 Communication on Progress and annual sustainability report. A participant of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) since 2015, the 2022 Communication on Progress reconfirms the Firm’s commitment to uphold the Ten Principles on human and labor rights, the environment and anti-corruption, and illustrates the progress made in 2021 towards achieving its prioritized Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Ten Principles and SDGs are reflected in the Firm's global strategy, and this year’s Communication on Progress shows once again how the Firm lives its values through its Environmental, Social and Governance actions.
The Communication on Progress highlights Baker McKenzie’s focus on social issues, including its new approach to how its people work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, offering more opportunities for flexible and agile working, while putting employee health and wellbeing at the heart of its people strategy. The Firm’s award-winning pro bono legal practice also focused on social issues through its work on projects providing access to justice for children and refugees, whose situations worsened in 2021, and helping victims of domestic violence, which reached new levels during the pandemic.
In the Communication on Progress, Baker McKenzie provides evidence of its continued focus on environmental issues, including working towards achieving the global carbon targets it announced in 2019. The Firm also highlights its belief in the importance of collaborating across the legal profession to advance climate ambition and has sought to play its part by being one of the founding members of the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance.
Speaking as the Firm launched its Communication on Progress, Milton Cheng, Global Chair of Baker McKenzie, said, “We believe that, in today’s world, values are more important in business than they have ever been. Shared values form the basis of our relationships within the Firm, and also with our clients, business partners and other stakeholders as well as the broader community. We are grateful to the UNGC for providing a platform for like-minded businesses and organizations to collaborate and drive global change based on our shared values, which are underpinned by the Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals.
"This Communication on Progress highlights how we leverage our expertise, our reach and our relationships to support the Ten Principles and how we strive to live by our values through our actions.”
Alyssa Auberger, Chief Sustainability Officer of Baker McKenzie, added, “Baker McKenzie is convinced that lasting, impactful change is only possible when business, government, civil society and local communities come together to share expertise, knowledge and resources to achieve a shared vision. For this reason, we maintain key partnerships with strategic policy-shaping forums, allowing us to engage to raise awareness, shape future debate and effect change on a global scale.
“In addition to our contribution to advancing the SDGs in the actions we take across our own operations, we firmly believe that as lawyers, we have a unique role to play in advancing broader business progress on the SDGs through our work with clients to advise them on how to embed sustainability across their operations — and for this reason, we have developed a holistic, multi-practice sustainability client solution. By combining our legal expertise with real-life experience from our own sustainability journey, we are committed to making sustainability aspiration a reality.”