As any decent Guinness ad will tell you, good things come to those who wait. A fortnight ago, I announced that our latest Website Carbon Emissions Report for law firms would be launching last week. But then we realised that we could make an already great product even better if we took some extra time to crunch yet more data before re-dotting all the I’s and re-crossing all the T’s. Which we have now done, and the report for Q2 2024 is ready and waiting to be read – you can download your copy here.
So what can you expect to find in our latest report? Nothing more or less than a ranking of the top 200 firms based on their website carbon emissions over the last quarter. Using a format that groups together the ten best/worst-performing firms for the respective results category, the report is broken down into the following sections:
- All Firms’ Overall Emissions Stats;
- All Firms’ Adjusted Overall Emissions Stats (i.e. adjusted for energy rating, green energy usage and emissions per employee);
- CO2 Emissions Per Year Per Employee;
- Biggest Rise in Emissions Per Employee This Quarter;
- Biggest Rise in Total Emissions This Quarter (Annualised);
- Biggest Fall in Emissions Per Employee This Quarter;
- Biggest Fall in Total Emissions This Quarter (Annualised); and
- The percentages of the top 200 firms which use Green Energy & their Energy Ratings
The report additionally contains a comprehensive explanation of our methodology, which you can also read more about in this previous edition of Si’s Matters, as well as a summary of our key findings.
Why do these results matter, I hear you ask? Because shrinking the carbon footprint of your website is an inescapable but often-overlooked step in meeting your firm’s Net Zero goals. As you will see in the report, too many of the legal sector’s big names – most, if not all, of whom have made very public ESG commitments – are failing to make headway in improving their ranking, with some even regressing in terms of their emissions.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom: our report has also identified some firms that have taken big steps in making their websites more climate-friendly, not least by improving their energy efficiency rating, a move that really makes a big difference in terms of carbon emissions. It is also heartening to see that one of the Magic Circle firms has maintained its B energy rating, putting the rest of the top-ten firms to shame with their energy rating of D or below.
If you want to know how your firm compares to its peers, you can commission a personalised report from us, in which we will benchmark you against five of your competitors. Or, if your firm isn’t listed, you can request to find out where you would rank against the Top 200. Just drop me a DM or contact the TBD team at the.team@2bd.me.
We are, of course, open to feedback on the latest report. As you will see when you read it, we have already fine-tuned our methodology in light of the comments we received about the first edition, and now use a weighting that includes a per-employee basis.
However, I hope that, above all else, our Q2 Website Carbon Emissions Report provides food for thought and serves as a spur to action. It has never seemed a more urgent task to do everything we can to combat the climate crisis – making our websites more energy-efficient strikes me as a relatively easy win in this hugely important battle for the planet’s future.
In other news
Top US law firms in London see profits drop below £1bn in the wake of M&A slowdown
As reported by City A.M. last week, new research by accountancy firm Hazlewoods has shown that the impact of a shrunken M&A market has seen the profits of the 15 leading US law firms in the City drop to £985m in 2022/23, a 3% decrease on £1.01bn in 2021/22.
The allure of training in-house
Last week, the Law Society Gazette highlightedthat the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) in 2021 has led to a growing number of businesses offering in-house training to aspiring lawyers – which is not surprising when you consider that just over a quarter (26%) of all solicitors in England and Wales work in-house, according to the Law Society.
Full-time City GCs see salaries soar – but is it enough to tempt them into the office?
On Wednesday, The Times reported on the struggles that recruiters are experiencing in filling full-time GC positions at major corporations, despite average salaries for legal chiefs at City businesses soaring by more than 40% in an attempt to attract top talent into roles that require five days of in-office working a week.
Law firms told that pub socials exclude Muslim staff
An article published in The Telegraph on Tuesday highlighted that the “big drinking culture” found in sections of the legal profession effectively exclude those who abstain from alcohol, including many Muslim employees. A report published by Rare, a UK graduate recruitment company specialising in diversity, urges law firms to make work socials more inclusive by hosting them at the office instead of in pubs.
Celebrating the UK’s best up-and-coming Black legal talent
Law.com International has published its inaugural Black Rising Stars list, which celebrates ten of the country’s most talented Black lawyers under the age of 40 working at leading UK firms and US firms with City offices, including Weil Gotshal & Manges, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, and Clifford Chance.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s edition.
Thanks,
Si Marshall
