Our neighbours
Who is our neighbour? What responsibilities do we have for his well-being?
Whilst the first question was most famously asked nearly 2000 years ago, the answer that would then have come first to mind seems a far cry from the one that might seem obvious in the global market place of the 21st century. But is it? Perhaps the answer is, in fact, still the same. Our neighbour is simply anyone affected by our actions or inaction. Whether he lives in the house next door or in a distant place that none of us will ever visit is, in truth, irrelevant. If he is affected by our actions or inaction then we are responsible for ensuring that we do not cause him harm. That we live pressured, complex lives, where out of sight is all too often out of mind, does not alter the moral argument as to responsibility, it merely makes it more difficult to recognise when it operates.
Respect for the individual is a core value of our business. It is to be given to all those with whom we come into direct contact, be they clients, colleagues or suppliers. It is equally the driver behind how we respond to our environmental responsibilities to all those affected by our actions or inaction but whom we may never meet. Overseeing how we discharge these responsibilities is our Green Team, drawn from a wide cross section of colleagues. The business is working its way through the recommendations of a report prepared on behalf of the Carbon Trust which identified measures for a 10% reduction in carbon emissions from our building. By itself, of course, that is not enough and we should be looking continually to drive down our carbon footprint. Recycling of paper, plastics and metal within the business is now a way of life, as are such matters as using recycled paper, materially reducing all forms of bottled water in the office and the reduction of waste through double sided printing and copying. Outside the office, we have for many years been a sponsor of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and we were a founding member of Staffordshire Business Environment Network, an organisation which facilitates and encourages environmental best practice in industry. Driven by the knowledge that the people who will be seriously affected first by global warming will be those whose lives are already most impoverished, our environmental responsibilities will be pursued with vigour.
In relation to people physically closer to us, the business throughout its long history has a record of prominent and active involvement in the local community. The understanding that with privilege comes responsibility has continuously run through the firm and, if we needed reminding, we have only to switch on a television or read a newspaper to understand that to be a lawyer in the United Kingdom in the second half of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st is without doubt a privileged position, both in relation to our immediate neighbours and, even more so, in relation to our more distant neighbours
How have we responded to discharging the responsibilities that come with such privilege?
With a combination of enlightened self interest and social responsibility, the business has made significant contributions to protecting and promoting the North Staffordshire economy through its involvement in the local Chamber of Commerce, by providing sponsorship of and directors or members of management committees for Staffordshire and Black Country Business Innovation Centre Limited, Business Initiative (the local enterprise agency) and Staffordshire Business Link as well as providing pro bono advice to these bodies. We also support the North Staffordshire Citizen of the Year Awards with sponsorship of, and providing a judge for, the Architectural Design Award, where one of the criteria is the element of community contribution.
In the education sector, our activities range from providing mentors to students at both Keele and Staffordshire Universities and sponsoring prizes at the Universities themselves, as well as sponsoring and hosting a mooting competition between the Universities. We are setting out on what promise to be rewarding relationships with schools helping mentally and physically disadvantaged children and underachieving children from disadvantaged social backgrounds. Through mentoring and more direct involvement, we intend to make a meaningful and lasting contribution in their lives. We intend also to extend further our existing policy of providing speakers at various events, particularly those with the objective of raising aspirations and helping children achieve their full potential in what has without doubt historically been an underachieving area of the country.
In the field of the arts, we are a corporate sponsor of the Keele Concerts Society, (and are represented on its committee), in addition to being sponsors of both the Regent Theatre and the New Victoria Theatre. In addition, we are sponsors of an art exhibition at Keele University.
As well as providing time and resource as above, members of the business come together to raise funds for a nominated charity each year, with our trainee solicitors enthusiastically and ably driving forward numerous fundraising activities.
Beyond the formal involvement of the business, members of the office devote personal and business time to organisations such as the Donna Louise Trust, (which operates a hospice and community nursing support service for children with life limiting conditions and their families) and Arch, (a charity engaged in providing accommodation, services and support for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness).
What is listed above is by no means exhaustive, nor do we regard it as adequate. We have not to date publicised these activities as we do not believe that the discharge of our duties in this respect by itself merits praise. However, we will be revising this policy as the community in general becomes more concerned with these issues and details of our activities will appear on this website.
We are firm believers that every business should be able to justify its existence. In our eyes the making of profit is not, by itself, a sufficient justification. Only if in a meaningful way does it contribute to the sum total of human happiness or the reduction of the sum total of human misery can it truly be said to be a business worth preserving. That has been, and will remain, our guiding principle.
Ian White Managing Partner
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