A Technological Transformation Towards Net Zero

About Walker Morris

The world is precious, vulnerable and we have a responsibility to protect it. That’s not our opinion, that’s a fact. Our planet is beautiful, but if we don’t do something to change it, it might not stay that way. We’re getting ever closer to a tipping point that we can’t come back from. As a firm and as individuals, we want to protect the planet. We want to ensure a safe, prosperous life for the generations that follow. So, we are actively engaged in the environmental agenda and continually trying to minimise the footprint we leave.

Changes

To be honest, up until 2014 what we were doing just wasn’t as sustainable as it should’ve been. We’d print application forms to review them and produce high gloss brochures which sat in fancy plastic coverings. It’s funny isn’t it how in hindsight you realise how wasteful something was! Since 2014, we’ve made an array of changes with two early examples, including the introduction of an ATS system and a dedicated graduate recruitment site to host all the required information (that we used to provide in printed-out brochures!).

In more recent years and post-Covid, our early careers recruitment changes have been more advanced and creative. Within our trainee sub-committee, we have decided to ditch the “goodies” at law fairs and offer an alternative solution to engage students. One alternative to non-eco-friendly freebies includes us providing a QR code to enter students into a competition. The prizes vary, such as coffee vouchers for a local café, a donation to environmental charities, having a video call with a trainee supervisor to get career advice, online application writing support from our early careers team or a day’s work experience.

How we travel to the law fairs has changed too. The old days (well, not that long ago) would see us driving to various universities, sometimes in three separate cars. We now only travel by public transport or attend virtual fairs. Knowing what we know now, it seems like common sense to not do these things, but that’s the power of information and change in practise, and we’re proud to be a part of it.

Results and reporting

The firm as a whole in the last 12 months has:

  • achieved 25% reduction in paper
  • achieved 95% reduction in plastic water bottles
  • saved 28,000 plastic cups and 24,000 plastic lids
  • switched to 100% biodegradable pens

It’s a start. A step in the right direction, and it is definitely a journey we’re fully committed to taking.

From our experience, a firm focused and determined to drive change in how they do things and contribute to net-zero is often a deciding factor for students when selecting firms to apply to.

Our future plans

At the start of 2023, we re-vamped our graduate recruitment website, which hosts videos, profiles and information and anything we want students to know to mean we can ditch the printing and paper brochures! Using a QR code at law fairs and offering more sustainable incentives to attract students is our focus for 2023. We will continue to utilise the advantage of being a single-site firm meaning our face-to-face recruitment activity will not require assessors to travel to different sites to meet candidates. This will allow our trainees a hybrid model of working will also allow us to cut carbon emissions and allow a more inclusive offering for those hoping to join us on a training contract.

Being part of the Alliance means we can learn and share best practices to ensure change truly happens.

 

 

 

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