Social Responsibility Review

Irwin Mitchell Group

group

Contents3 Foreword from our Chief Executive

4 About Irwin Mitchell and our responsibility

5 Our environment

6 Our people

8 Our community

10 Our pro bono

2

John Davies, Regional Managing Partner, Newcastle completed a zipwire jump from the Tyne Bridge (in a Minions onesie) to raise funds for Headway

Newcastle & North TynesideA magician entertains guests at the Million Makers Ball in aid of The Princes Trust

Ride for Eric in Sheffield, 2015

Cover images top to bottom: 1 - Scott Tollis, Joseph Dawson and Adam Wright swims an icy fjord for Rape and Sexual Violance Project (RSVP) Charity. 2 - Partner Karen Codling began raising money for Cavendish Cancer Care through Ride for Eric to remember her husband, who tragically died in a cycling accident. She is pictured with her daughters at the 2015 event. 3 - The Southampton team raised £2770.00 in a sponsored skydive for Pilgrim Bandits. Main image - Cerebal Palsy Plus sailing day.

3

Welcome to the Irwin Mitchell Social Responsibility Review

Our social responsibility programme is fundamental to who we are. It lies at the heart of everything we do and we want to be recognised as among the very best firms in the legal sector. I am pleased to report that we have made good progress on our journey towards a broad and fully integrated social responsibility programme, which consists of four strands woven into the fabric of Irwin Mitchell and its people. We are committed to helping our community, our people, our environment and providing pro bono (free legal advice) support to businesses, charities and individuals. Our dedicated charity, the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation (IMCF), was established in 1997 and allows our partners and employees to contribute to worthy causes and our office Charities of the Year. We’re proud to support the 2016 British Citizen Awards, which recognises individuals for the contribution they make to their communities. Our links with law students involved in pro bono clinical legal education are strong and the number of university law clinics we support has grown. Our people are our most important asset and we are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive workplace. Over the past five years we have been recognised for special efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive working environment and are one of the founder members of the Law Society’s Diversity Access Scheme to promote wider access to the profession. We are one of the UK’s most diverse law firms and employ people from all backgrounds. We also place great importance on environmental responsibility and are doing all we can to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce waste, recycle more and reduce business travel. These are also exciting times for Irwin Mitchell. We have just completed a merger with Thomas Eggar, another leading law firm with a strong presence in London and south of England. That deal brought together two leading law firms to create a dynamic legal services business able to provide a wider range of services for our clients. It will also massively boost our corporate social responsibility programme because Thomas Eggar shares our values and understands the importance of corporate social responsibility. Their Making a Difference programme ensures that each office

ForewordFrom our Chief Executive

Group Chief ExecutiveAndrew Tucker

supports a local charity while also reducing the impact on the environment by reducing waste and recycling more. The integrated social responsibility programmes of our newly-merged firms, in addition to giving our clients the best possible legal service, will continue to be at the heart of what Irwin Mitchell is all about.

Established in Sheffield in 1912, Irwin Mitchell is now one of the largest law firms in the UK, employing more than 2,800 people in 15 offices across Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Chichester, Gatwick, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newbury, Newcastle, Sheffield, Southampton, and Worthing.

About Irwin Mitchell and our responsibility

Committed to what we believe in…We are committed to providing our clients with a service that exceeds their expectations and we strongly believe in:

• Offering advice that is clear and straightforward• Providing the highest level of client care• Testing and pushing the boundaries of the law to achieve the very best results for clients• Being forward-thinking and offering innovative solutions to problems• Being open and approachable• Treating everybody with respect and dignity at all times.

We understand that each client is different and we use our expertise and experience to ensure that we can quickly understand our clients’ needs and provide advice and solutions that are tailored to their individual circumstances.

Our responsibilityIrwin Mitchell’s social responsibility programme is a fundamental part of who we are. We believe that it is important to support the communities in which we live and work and we do so across a broad range of activities pulled together under four strands:

Our people Our environment Our community Our pro bono

Irwin Mitchell’s social responsibility programme is overseen by our senior management team and led by Stuart Henderson. This team is supported by a network of co-ordinators in each of our offices. Our commitment takes many forms, from providing volunteers for community initiatives to providing free legal advice or pro bono, as it is commonly known.

We are clear in our aims and believe in:

• Supporting people to realise their full potential• Taking responsibility for our impact upon our environment• Supporting development in the local communities in which we operate• Continuing to provide pro bono legal advice.

Tesco Bag Pack for the Foundation for Conductive Education (FCE)

Irwin Mitchell always strives to establish new ways to reduce our negative environmental impacts and the firm makes great efforts to reduce our waste and energy usage year-on-year.

Our environment

Legal sustainability allianceWe are proud to be one of the founding members of the Legal Sustainability Alliance (LSA), formerly the Legal Sector Alliance. The LSA is a movement of legal firms and the Law Society who together are committed to taking action on climate change by improving their environmental sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint. Reports back from the LSA show that Irwin Mitchell is an environmentally aware and sustainable business compared to other large law firms.

Business in the communityWe work with Business in the Community (BITC), a national organisation committed to driving responsible business practices, and were awarded Gold status in the BITC's 2013 Corporate Responsibility Index for our overall social responsibility strategy and environmental impact.

Environmental management systemWe have achieved and maintained ISO 14001 certification since 2010; the industry benchmark shows that we're constantly looking for ways to improve our green credentials and environmental performance.

Recycling and saving energyReducing waste, saving energy and reducing carbon emissions are important parts of our environmental policy.

We’re working to introduce energy-saving initiatives wherever possible. We’ve implemented environmental solutions, such as auto sensing lights and automatic power down of computers, that have significantly reduced our power consumption. A rolling programme of introducing new monitors, desktop computers and laptops enabled us to halve the amount of energy consumed by our IT equipment since 2013. We’ve also reduced carbon emissions from the electricity we use by nearly 84 tonnes between 2013 and 2014.

We’re working hard to reduce the amount of paper we use. We're working on a Paperlite project, reducing our reliance on paper files and making greater use of digital technology. “Follow Me” printing is used in all of our offices to allow employees to collect documents from any printer in any office. As part of our commitment to reduce our impact on the environment, we’ve removed all of our under desk bins and introduced recycling stations in all of our offices.

Small change makes a big savingIrwin Mitchell installed Vivro Hydro Taps in each of its offices, replacing the hot drink vending machines that provided drinks for staff. Paper cups have been replaced by mugs, which are reused every day, resulting in a reduction in 312,000 cardboard cups. Energy usage has also been reduced as the taps go into standby mode and are much more efficient than the vending machines that were powered 24 hours a day. “We’re continually making improvements to our

environmental credentials in order to reduce our environmental impact wherever possible. Irwin Mitchell continues to make improvements across the firm with regard to its green credentials and is one of the founding members of the Legal Sector Alliance (LSA), an inclusive movement of law firms and organisations committed to working collaboratively to take action on climate change by reducing their carbon footprint and adopting environmentally sustainable practices.”

Stuart Henderson, Chair, Social Responsibility & Diversity Board

5

Irwin Mitchell celebrates the diversity of our people, clients and communities. We take our responsibility to build an inclusive and supportive working environment seriously and, as signatories of the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter, we encourage other law firms to do the same.

Our people

We are delighted to be recognised as one of the UK’s most diverse law firms and have consistently scored well in league tables for diversity. In fact, the 2015 Diversity League Table compiled by the Black Solicitors’ Network shows we finished 5th in the overall diversity league table.

We are proud to celebrate the diversity of our peopleOne of the big success stories in this area over recent years has been our performance in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. The Index is Britain’s leading tool for employers to measure their efforts to tackle discrimination and create inclusive workplaces for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff. In March 2015, Irwin Mitchell was ranked as the 11th best performing firm in the legal sector by Stonewall. This success is testament to the hard work and commitment of IMEqual and the Diversity Board, who have continued to champion this agenda at the highest level.

Listening + action = resultsAs part of our commitment to a diverse workplace, Irwin Mitchell has a Diversity Board, which forms part of its integrated social responsibility agenda and is responsible for overseeing the practical implementation and continued development of the firm’s diversity strategy. The Diversity Board is led by Stuart Henderson, who sits on the Irwin Mitchell Executive Board.

Internal networking groups have been established to focus on sexual orientation, age, gender, disability, social mobility and race and religion. Each group is made up of volunteer members from all offices and departments, and each is led by a senior member of the Partnership and they work with external agencies and other networks to explore a range of issues and initiatives that will contribute to the inclusiveness of Irwin Mitchell.

IMEqualThe IMEqual sexual orientation group raises awareness among employees on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues as well as hosting regular internal networking events for LGBT employees, straight allies and anyone else who may be interested in finding out more. This group is led by partners Jane Wright and Luke Daniels.

IMPoweredIMPowered is Irwin Mitchell’s gender diversity group which tackles issues concerning female staff. The group host events for women at all levels in the firm ranging from career talks with associates and partners, to seminars delivered by outside speakers around topics such as career progression, work/life balance and flexible working. The group is led by partner Alison Eddy.

IMRespectIMRespect raises awareness about the diversity of our employees, clients and communities, ensuring that everyone treats each other with respect and celebrates our differences. We’ve been shortlisted in the Law Society Excellence in Diversity Award, and have also introduced internal support programmes to make sure that equality of opportunity is available to our existing staff. Internal communications campaigns have helped to boost the profile of this group, which is led by partner Suki Chhokar.

6

“At Irwin Mitchell we proudly celebrate the UK’s diversity of our people, clients and communities in which we operate. We have been recognised by the Black Solicitors’ Network as one of the UK’s most diverse law firms. We believe strongly in equality of opportunity for all and our strength in this area is testament to the hard work of our networking groups and the commitment of the Irwin Mitchell board to meritocracy and inclusion as part of our aspiration to be a truly great place to work.”

Stuart Henderson, Irwin Mitchell Diversity and Social Responsibility, Boards Chairman

IMAspiring IMAspiring is our group that deals with social mobility issues within our existing staff team and looks at our recruitment from the widest talent pool in the future. IMAspiring makes sure that Irwin Mitchell meets its PRIME commitment each year. PRIME is an alliance of law firms and legal departments across the UK, offering high quality work experience to students from less advantaged backgrounds, who will be the first in their families to go to university or who are on free school meals. PRIME work placements are offered across our offices. IMAspiring is led by Tracey Storey.

A great place for women to workAs well as the IMPowered group raising awareness within the business, we have seen an increase in women moving into senior roles. Irwin Mitchell’s commitment to diversity in the workplace was recognised by the Black Solicitors’ Network’s 2015 Diversity League Table in which we finished top in rankings of female associates, 3rd in ranking of firms for female trainees and 5th for the number of female partners. These achievements, and recognition of progression achieved, meet the Diversity Board’s objective to build a reputation as a leading place for female lawyers to work in terms of supporting career progression.

Although we’re happy to talk about all of the diversity initiatives that we have in place and the way in which these deliver results, we firmly believe that it is important to quality-stamp our programme. We benchmark ourselves through the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index, Opportunity Now Benchmark Survey and the Black Solicitors’ Network Survey, as well as feeding into the Law Society Diversity Charter Annual Report.

Over the past three years we’ve received many recognitions and awards, including:• Ranking 5th overall in the Black Solicitors Network 2015 Diversity League Table• Ranking 11th in Stonewall’s 2015 list of the top 20 most inclusive law firms• ‘Best Trainee Recruitment Campaign‘ at The Lawyer’s Business Leadership Awards (2015)• Awarded ‘Law Firm of the Year’ at the Bristol Pride Gala Awards (2015). The award was given to Irwin Mitchell in recognition of its support for Bristol Pride for the past two years and in recognition for the way staff dealt with members of the LBGT community.• ‘Gold status’ in the Law Society Diversity Charter survey (2015).

"We are a people business and we value the highest calibre people from all backgrounds and sectors of the community. One of the things that differentiates us from many of our competitors is our diversity. We celebrate the diversity of our people, our clients and services together with the communities in which we operate. We know that our people are our most valuable asset and as such, we are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive working environment in which our employees can flourish and our clients can prosper.”

Alison Eddy,Partner and Chair of the firm’s IMPowered employee network group.

IMEqual take part in a Pride event in Birmingham

Irwin Mitchell has a proud record of supporting communities where our offices are based. Being involved with the local community is a big part of our day-to-day working life.

Our community

We encourage staff to take part in voluntary community activities and have a policy enabling all staff to donate 14 hours of their time every year to take part in socially responsible activity.

Whether visiting clients at home, supporting local businesses or working with local charities, it is important to us that we can give something back to our local communities and highlight Irwin Mitchell’s commitment to the regions in which we operate.

Irwin Mitchell Charities FoundationThe Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation (IMCF) was set up by the partners and staff in February 1997 as an independent registered charity. Since then, we've raised more than £1.25m for charities and good causes.

The charity aims to relieve poverty and provide support in cases of need, hardship or distress for the people living near our offices, and has benefitted a wide range of good causes including providing support for older people, people with disabilities, children, local development initiatives and events, hospices and cancer charities. A designated charity committee meets each month to discuss donation requests and fundraising initiatives that are underway and, wherever possible, supports the efforts of staff to raise money for a wide variety of charities with top-up donations.

Every Friday, the firm takes part in a “dress down” day and donates money collected to the IMCF, which distributes it to the office Charities of the Year. Employees are also encouraged to sign up to a “give as you earn” scheme and donate a small sum from their salary each month, with donations matched by partners.

Charities supported by IMCF include Sheffield Smashers Boccia club, Cathedral Archer (Homeless) Project, Dementia Carer’s Support, Prince’s Trust, St. Luke’s Hospice, DEC Ebola Crisis Appeal, RideForEric, Canine Partners, East Cheshire Hospice, Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity, Alzheimer’s Society and Buddies Clubs & Services.

Warm-hearted team support local charitiesOur colleagues are enthusiastic supporters of many local charities. All our offices support one local charity of their choice every year. In December and January, IMCF committees send out a request for nominations and the whole office can vote for the charity they would like to support.

8

Manchester

Southampton

Sheffield

Leeds

Newcastle

Glasgow

Bristol

Birmingham

Cambridge

London

Newbury

Gatwick

Chichester

part of

part of

part of part of

part of

Irwin Mitchell's Charities of the Year 2016

DONATIONS

Made over

CHARITABLE

Southampton office hosts silent charity auctionOur Southampton office hosted a silent auction raising money for Headway, Basingstoke, with over 60 attendees from local businesses and charities.

Headway is a national charity dedicated to improving people's lives after a brain injury and several of our offices work closely with their local branch. The charity provides support, services and invaluable information to brain injury survivors, their families and carers as well as working with professionals in the health and legal fields.The night was a great success raising more than £1,700 with the Southampton team buying Mitch the Elephant to go on display in the office reception.

Sponsored walk organised by the Serious Injury team raises more than £5,000 for The Child Brain Injury TrustIrwin Mitchell staff helped raise £5,470 for the Child Brain Injury Trust by organising a sponsored walk around Edale in the Derbyshire Peak District. A total of 120 people took part, including 50 Irwin Mitchell staff and clients, after choosing one of three walking routes 8km, 15km and 30km long. The Child Brain Injury Trust (CBIT) supports children and young people who have suffered brain injuries following an accident, illness such as meningitis or encephalitis, stroke or brain tumour. The charity also supports families and professionals and helps them come to terms with any uncertainty that the future may hold.

Irwin Mitchell supports British Citizen Awards 2016We’re proud to support the British Citizen Awards (BCAs), which honour exceptional people from across the UK, for the second consecutive year.

Launched in 2015 to honour the accomplishments of individuals who positively impact their communities and whose achievements may otherwise be overlooked, the awards are held across two presentation days in January and July. The initiative is also backed by high-profile patrons.

\

Making a difference with Business in the CommunityIrwin Mitchell supports the Business in the Community (BITC) charity, which works with more than 800 organisations to tackle a wide range of issues and create a fairer society.

The Sheffield office has an ongoing partnership with Chaucer School, where a number of initiatives have been running for two years with the help of BITC to improve literacy and numeracy skills.

The ‘Right to Read’ scheme is designed to bring together local businesses and schools to provide students who need extra help with their reading, bringing them up to the curriculum standard expected in their year group.

In 2015, Irwin Mitchell volunteers worked with ten Year 7 pupils for an hour a week over two terms to improve their reading skills – and the results were fantastic! The students’ reading ages increased by at least a year, with many by two years. In 2016, we’ve already signed up 12 volunteers to work with these children and hope to see similar fantastic results.

The ‘Number Partners’ project demonstrates to Year 7 students why numeracy is so important and how this can be applied throughout their working lives. Eight volunteers take time out of their working week to work one-to-one with a young student to help bring their skills up to that of their peers.

Students are also given help with their business skills. The ‘Business Class’ initiative for Year 10 children highlights the wide range of jobs available at Irwin Mitchell and the routes to enter each role.

Staff also arrange for students to attend CV and interview technique workshops, where they have the opportunity to apply for work experience at Irwin Mitchell’s head office.

Other support provided by Irwin Mitchell volunteers for the school includes panels for mock interviews and mentoring in attendance at panel meetings.

The volunteering efforts of Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office have been praised at the BITC Yorkshire and Humber Local Recognition Awards 2015, winning the ‘Employee Volunteering Business’ award.

“Irwin Mitchell is more than just a law firm and our commitment to social responsibility goes far wider than just providing Pro Bono advice. We support our local communities in many ways, which is good for our employees as well as the community.”

Adrian Budgen, Partner and Chair of the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation.

“The British Citizen Awards are a fantastic initiative, ensuring that unsung heroes in communities across the UK are given the recognition and praise that they deserve. Through our work we meet some incredibly inspirational people who against all odds make a huge difference to so many lives.”

Michelle Beat, Associate Director

9

Providing advice and support to those who need it most lies at the heart of Irwin Mitchell’s pro bono philosophy.

Our pro bono

We provide free legal advice and representation to individuals and community groups who cannot pay and where public funding is not available. Our commitment has earned us a place in the Legal Business pro bono survey, and we are ranked in the top 20 law firms in the country who spend the greatest number of hours working on pro bono activity.

Our pledge is that every one of our offices will provide free legal advice via a local advice centre. We support the provision of free legal advice around the country through our annual donation to LawWorks, the solicitors’ pro bono charity in England and Wales. Over the last 10 years we have donated nearly £100,000 to LawWorks and plan to continue that support. We’re also a member of the Business in the Community's Pro Help initiative, which allows us to support community groups and organisations. Our lawyers provide free legal advice clinics to the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) and minority groups around the country.

Give something back in National Pro Bono WeekIrwin Mitchell has supported National Pro Bono Week since it began in 2001. The annual event celebrates the breadth and impact of pro bono work undertaken by the legal profession.

Our work covers a range of activity including providing support at legal advice clinics up and down the country. For example, we work with organisations like the Birmingham Irish Association and provide volunteers at the Royal Courts of Justice Citizens’ Advice Bureau. Other pro bono cases include supporting charities such as the National Youth Advocacy Service on a real estate matter, via our long-standing relationship with Land Aid.

“Irwin Mitchell has a proud history of undertaking pro bono work. It’s a fundamental part of the fabric of Irwin Mitchell and it’s a vital part of ensuring we’re active members of the communities where we’re based. Through our links with LawWorks, we have pledged to the communities in which we operate that every Irwin Mitchell office will provide free legal advice via advice centres and case work. We also support provision of free legal advice around the country though our annual donation to LawWorks and pledge to continue that support.”

Ian Christian, partner leading Irwin Mitchell’s Pro Bono Group

10

Cerebal Palsy Plus Sailing Day

Working with studentsAt Irwin Mitchell, we believe that it’s important to instil the right ethos in legal professionals at an early stage in their career. Several of our offices are involved in pro bono projects with local universities and we support students in their own pro bono projects.

Irwin Mitchell’s Manchester office, for example, has a long-standing relationship with The University of Manchester School of Law Legal Advice Centre dating back to 2005. This was established to enable students studying at the University to obtain practical legal experience. Students work under the supervision of university staff and volunteers from local firms and barristers’ chambers to research legal issues presented by clients, and draft letters of advice to clients summarising the advice given in interviews.

Examples of our pro bono workEach Irwin Mitchell office provides free legal advice to a Citizens’ Advice Bureau office or advice centre but we also provide pro bono support to a range of other organisations including:

Newcastle• Monthly legal advice clinics offering free initial advice at disability charities – Disability North and Contact a Family. Disability North promotes independence and choice for disabled and older people in the North East of England and Cumbria. It provides advice and guidance on benefit claims and all aspects of independent living, such as personal care and leisure. Irwin Mitchell supports the charity by running free legal surgeries to provide advice on disability related queries including transport, health and access to medical treatment.• Free initial legal advice sessions every three months at Heel and Toe, a cerebral palsy charity that Irwin Mitchell has been working with since 2008. We provide free advice about potential clinical negligence claims and help with queries relating to statutory services. Team members support the charity at various fundraising events throughout the year including their charity ball and children’s triathlon.• The Public Law team offers free basic legal advice to Crisis Skylight, a national charity for single homeless people. Crisis Skylight Newcastle provides education, training and employment support for homeless and vulnerably-housed people in the heart of Newcastle.

London• Irwin Mitchell provides volunteer solicitors to advise members of the public at the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB). Every few months, between two and four solicitors will attend sessions at the CAB, often paired with non-qualified members of staff, to provide members of the public with pro bono advice. In the main, CAB supports litigants in person who have been unable to instruct a solicitor to represent them in court proceedings. Irwin Mitchell volunteers will provide guidance and advice to help them navigate the court system, prepare their statements of case, and refer them to specialist organisations for further help where available.• Irwin Mitchell supports Headway East London, a charity that is dedicated to improving people's lives after a brain injury. The charity provides support, services and invaluable information to brain injury survivors Irwin Mitchell supports the charity with clinics attended by a solicitor and a non-qualified member of staff.

Sheffield and Manchester• Irwin Mitchell also provides a pro bono clinic for the neuro critical care unit at the Hallamshire Hospital, legal advice clinics at Patients’ Association and Thalidomide Trust, and supports the University of Manchester and East Manchester Legal Advice Centres to help students as they interview clients and offer feedback.

11

Our Leeds office raises over £3,500 for Martin House. Irwin Mitchell first worked with them in 2012 as the Leeds Charity of the Year and the Medical

Negligence team continue to support them.

@irwinmitchell

Irwin Mitchell LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

0370 1500 100

www.irwinmitchell.com

For a list of our offices visit our website

This brochure has been printed on 100% recycled paper

FW-0161-B

Group website:www.irwinmitchellgroup.com

group