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Walker Morris commits to Green Pledge for arbitrations

Walker Morris, has signed up to ‘The Green Pledge’, in support of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations. In signing the pledge we have committed to minimising the environmental impact of our arbitration practice and reduce our carbon footprint wherever possible.

The wider campaign seeks to raise awareness of the significant carbon footprint of the arbitration community, addressing the waste and unnecessary travel that often occurs in international arbitrations, and works with all relevant players to promote best practice in managing arbitrations in a sustainable way.

We have pledged to minimise the environmental impact of our arbitration practice by using more renewable energy sources wherever possible, reducing unnecessary travel and conducting meetings digitally, and working with suppliers and service providers who are also actively reducing our carbon footprint in our operations.

In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, Walker Morris has already announced our own commitment to positively respond to the impact of climate change through the launch of a staff climate change competition. The overwhelmingly positive response revealed a number of initiatives which are being implemented including: carbon footprint measurement, car sharing, switching to 100% renewable energy and installing more EV charge points. In the last 12 months we have:

  • 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
  • pledged its support to the Sustainable Recruitment Alliance to reduce waste from merchandise and paper.

Nick McQueen, Partner in the Commercial Dispute Resolution Group at Walker Morris, commented: “We are proud to extend our support to the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations by signing the Green Pledge. Increasingly, businesses of all sizes must consider, and proactively address, environmental impacts at every stage of their operations, and that includes our arbitration practice.”

“We’re committed to looking for opportunities to reduce energy consumption and waste and to working with the wider international arbitration community of hearing venues, third party funders, conference organisers, legal journalists, legal technology providers and corporate clients to reinforce and share responsibility for reducing the carbon footprint of our industry.”

Walker Morris is the pre-eminent, single site firm outside of London and has followed a unique strategy of investing in the full spectrum of commercial legal expertise, including specialist practice areas such as competition law, financial services and consumer finance which, typically, are reserved for City firms. Whilst Walker Morris works with a number of local and national clients, it also works with international businesses, with a fifth of its client base headquartered overseas.

Last year Walker Morris also published an ebook for clients ‘The Power of Zero’ which helps organisations to ask the right questions about net zero, start new conversations and work towards the correct answers for their own business.

This year, the firm has launched its Factory of the Future microsite which serves as a knowledge hub and planning tool for smart-technology projects, which are vital to deliver on net zero.