Kelly Thomson
Partner, ESG Strategy Lead
London
In today’s landscape, ESG considerations impact every aspect of your business - from governance and people strategy to market engagement and environmental footprint. Taking ESG strategies off the page and embedding them operationally is no mean feat for any business.
You need advisors who recognise that ESG challenges and opportunities are inter-connected and who are skilled in navigating this maze. That's why our Legal 500-recognised multidisciplinary ESG advisory practice brings together the expertise of lawyers from across the firm, complimented by our specialist in-house responsible business consultants. We don't believe in boxed-up solutions. Instead, we offer tailored, integrated and business-focused support to drive your sustainable business growth, mitigate risks, and enhance long-term value for business, people and planet. Our approach is rooted in our own commitment to responsible business, and our advice is enhanced by experience of our own ESG strategy creation and implementation.
We work with businesses at all different stages of their ESG journeys, and we meet them where they are. For some, the priority is understanding their regulatory and ESG obligations, which is why we've developed bespoke ESG horizon scanners and trackers to help them do just this. Others are looking to go beyond, and we support them to futureproof their businesses by supplementing our own advice with facilitated peer-to-peer learning sessions across our network.
Support we offer spans the entire ESG spectrum - from strategy and governance to regulatory compliance, culture change initiatives, dispute resolution, ESG investigations, and transactional support. This cross-firm, cross-border multidisciplinary expertise allows us to tackle sector-specific challenges and navigate the intricacies of multijurisdictional landscapes with confidence. Through this approach, we turn ESG challenges into opportunities, setting you up not just for today, but for success in the world of tomorrow.
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How we help?
Strategy and governance
- Corporate ESG strategy development: advising on the creation, implementation, measurement and amendment of DEIB strategies across organisations.
- Advising on governance processes and structures to support the implementation of ESG strategies and mitigate legal and regulatory risk; advising on corporate governance obligations and directors' duties relating to ESG.
- Cultural change initiatives and supporting cultural transformation within organisations to embed ESG principles deeply and sustainably.
- Developing and implementing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) strategies to promote a diverse and inclusive workplace.
- Proactive risk management and mitigation: identifying and addressing potential ESG legal and reputational risks arising from clients' business strategies, and helping clients to develop robust ESG compliance programs.
Regulatory compliance and reporting
- ESG regulation tracking and horizon scanning: mapping current and emerging ESG regulations; creating bespoke ESG trackers to help clients keep on top of legal developments.
- Sustainability reporting and disclosure: advising private and listed companies on new sustainability reporting requirements, and supporting clients with the preparation and submission of sustainability reports and other required disclosures.
- Supply chain due diligence: advising on compliance with emerging supply chain regulation and helping clients implement robust policies and processes to identify and manage environmental, human rights and financial crime risks across their supply chain.
- Greenwashing risk mitigation: advising on green brand strategies and green product and marketing claims to build trust and credibility and reduce the risk of legal challenge.
- Sustainable products and packaging: helping clients understand and comply with emerging ESG regulations impacting consumer products and packaging, including new ecodesign, product labelling and producer responsibility requirements.
- Advice on creation, implementation, measurement and amendment of DEIB strategies across organisations.
Investigations
- Representing clients in ESG-related investigations by regulatory bodies, such as environmental agencies, financial regulators or equality commissions.
- Greenwashing investigations: helping clients manage complaints and regulatory investigations relating to alleged greenwashing in advertising and marketing campaigns, or other public disclosures.
- Supporting organisations in dealing with sensitive, challenging and high-profile investigations related to allegations of harassment at work, and other workforce matters.
- Crisis management and incident response via our ReAssure product, providing immediate support and long-term strategies for managing incidents that threaten a company’s ESG standing, such as environmental spills or social media controversies.
Dispute resolution and litigation
- Defending or pursuing litigation related to ESG issues in the High Court and ESG-related class actions before the UK's Competition Appeals Tribunal.
- Acting as coverage counsel in high profile ESG disputes; advising insurers and reinsurers on environmental and product liability exposures related to climate change, pollution, plastics and chemicals.
Transactional support
- Advising on ESG aspects of mergers & acquisitions (M&A), such as integrating ESG considerations into due diligence processes, contract negotiations, and post-transaction integration.
- Green financing and investment; advising on structuring and securing financing for green and sustainable projects, including renewable energy and social impact initiatives.
- Workforce restructuring and equality impact, ensuring compliance with equality duties and minimising social impacts during workforce restructuring or other significant organisational changes.
- ESG projects: advising on the commercial aspects of ESG-related projects and initiatives to support clients' sustainability objectives, including advising on renewable energy projects, legal issues related to new sustainable product launches and supply chain restructuring.
Training and knowledge sharing
- Leadership training and development: equipping leadership teams with the knowledge and skills to manage ESG issues effectively, including training on DEIB, sustainability, and corporate governance.
- Peer-to-peer learning sessions, including facilitating knowledge-sharing sessions among clients on key ESG topics, such as sustainability reporting, gender diversity and supply chain due diligence, to accelerate learning and implementation of best practices.
- Workforce training and awareness, developing and delivering training programmes for employees on ESG-related issues, from workplace inclusion to environmental awareness and education.
Partnerships and collaborations
- Partnering with external experts, such as sustainability consultants, NGOs, and sector-specific trade associations, such as the British Retail Consortium, TechUK and the United Nations Foundation to provide holistic and practical ESG support to clients including insight into policy and legislative changes helping clients stay ahead of the curve.
- Building networks among clients for collaboration on ESG initiatives, enabling collective progress toward sustainability goals.
- Innovation and product development; collaboration with clients in creating new products and services that meet emerging ESG demands, such as our ESG regulatory tracker, CEO DEIB masterclass, RPC Techtonic and ReAssure regulatory response service.
Responsible business
Our goal is to continue to ensure that our strategy is understood and embedded across the whole business and contributes to our firm vision by engaging and empowering our people (of today and tomorrow) and enabling us to support our clients on the same journey.
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