Social responsibility

Since 2003 Minter Ellison has had a formal commitment, endorsed by the firm’s partnership board, to operate in accordance with corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles.

We identified our people – the partners and staff of Minter Ellison – as the key stakeholders in determining our priorities for addressing a range of social and environmental issues.

We recognised that if we failed to address issues such as social disadvantage and environmental management we would place at risk our ability to attract and retain the best people. We also recognised that our clients were placing increasing emphasis on the CSR credentials of their supply chain, including professional services firms.

So, for us, our commitment to CSR is good for the community and good for business.

Our membership of the Public Interest Law Clearing House and the Australian Business & Community Network has assisted us in identifying our key social issues including homelessness and disadvantaged youth.

Our participation in Australia's Greenhouse Challenge has assisted us in identifying the most effective means of reducing and reporting our environmental footprint. We have also adopted the internationally recognised Greenhouse Gas Protocol as the basis for measuring our carbon emissions.

Senior executives within the firm have been allocated formal responsibility for specific CSR priorities:

• Community – John Weber, Chief Executive Partner
• Marketplace (clients)  – John Weber, Chief Executive Partner
• Environment – Nick Avery, Director, Minter Ellison Services
• Marketplace (supply chain) – Nick Avery
• Workplace (OH&S and employee issues) – Andrew Cunningham, Sydney Managing Partner
• Human Rights – Andrew Cunningham

The firm is governed by a Partnership Board elected by the partners. The Chief Executive and a management team including the firm's local Managing Partners are responsible for the firm's operations.

In 2003 and again in 2006 we asked our people via a comprehensive internal survey to provide their views on our social and environmental priorities – and to assess our performance. The firm's annual opinion survey conducted in 2006 and 2008 provides staff with an opportunity to provide detailed feedback about corporate responsibility issues with particular emphasis on workplace issues.  Feedback received from the opinion survey assists in shaping the firm's People Strategy.

Our CSR journey is outlined in the following article by our National Director, Pro Bono & Community Investment entitled Corporate Responsibility Index – Minter Ellison's road to implementing CSR.

Our feedback report for the 2008 Corporate Responsibility Index can be viewed by clicking here.

Highlights of our performance in 2007/08 include:

Community

In 2008/09 we performed 15,652 hours of pro bono legal work (up from 12,314 in 2007/08). The participation rate of our lawyers in pro bono legal work was 63.5% in 2008/09 (up from 54% in 2007/08).

Our people also performed an additional 3,285 hours of community volunteering in 2008/09. This reflects our participation in Australian Business and Community Network programs around Australia (GOALS, SPARK, Partners in Learning and Career Choice Day), Catalyst and our long-term partnerships with schools including James Meehan High and Fawkner Secondary College. Our community volunteering work also includes voluntary service on community boards and fundraising activities.

In 2008/09 the participation rate for our matched workplace giving program, MatchME, grew to 19% (up from 9% the previous year). This significant increase coincided with higher rates of giving associated with the February 2009 Victorian bushfire disaster.

Environment

Our environmental targets are:

• annual reductions in our carbon emissions of at least 5 per cent;
• reduction of paper usage of at least 10 per cent.

These three issues reflect the firms major environmental impacts.

Through our Greenhouse Challenge action plan we have achieved the following results:

The Greenhouse Challenge Plus programme ended 30 june 2009.

We expect further reductions in our carbon emissions in 2009 based on the implementation of further energy reduction measures arising from our energy management action plans.

We have also reduced our impact on the environment through paper products consumption by:

• purchasing the majority of our paper products with a recycled content of between 50% and 70%; and
• implementing default duplex printing across the firm.

We measure the amount of paper purchased per staff member per annum and aimed for a reduction of 10 per cent in 2008/09. Our performance over four years is as follows:

Marketplace

In 2008 the firm's Partnership Board revised our Corporate Responsibility policy to include a formal commitment to conducting client relationships according to the highest professional and ethical standards and contributing to the standing of the legal profession within the wider community. This met our management target of reviewing the firm's approach to Corporate Responsibility as part of the Board's annual work plan.

The firm continues to engage in the development and growth of the wider legal profession through our membership of State-based Law Societies and our membership of the Law Council of Australia via the Large Law Firms' Group.  We also contribute to the standing of the legal profession in the wider community through our active membership of the Public Interest Law Clearing House in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

Workplace

The overall goal of Minter Ellison's People Strategy is as follows:

To attract and retain the very best people for whom we will provide a career experience that is rewarding for individuals and beneficial for our clients and the firm.

In 2007/08 we met our target of introducing the new Minter Ellison Performance & Development Framework.  The framework has now been rolled out across the entire firm.  The framework links performance appraisal to key result areas which are directly connected to the firm's core values.

The Minter Ellison Performance & Development Framework builds on the results of the 2006 Minter Ellison opinion survey where our people expressed an overall engagement rate of 85 per cent.  In the 2008 opinion survey our engagement rating increased to 89 per cent.

Staff training programs include: the Graduate Development Program, the National Core Skills Program and the Leadership Program.

Minter Ellison is passionate about the enhancement of the careers of our people. We provide an average of 1.5 learning opportunities per annum to all staff as well as the following additional internal and external training: Orientation (both new starter and transitional)

• Leadership Program
• Graduate Development Program
• Practice Group CLEs (continuous legal education)
• CLE Week
• specific mandatory CPD courses (compulsory professional development)
• Formal Study Agreements
• Other external training (ie - conferences, courses, breakfast briefings etc)

We also enhance the experience of new and existing staff through a range of measures including:

• post-graduate study support;
• flexible work arrangements; and
• a national well-being program.

In 2007/08 we met our objective of all new starters at the firm completing an orientation program which includes a compulsory module on Occupational Health & Safety, Equal Employment Opportunity and discrimination issues.

We have decreased our staff turnover by 5.6% over the last 3 years. The firm is committed to enhancing employee satisfaction and decreasing turnover by at least 2% per annum.

For further information about Minter Ellison's workplace culture go to Careers