Brocklesby: Sustainable and responsible practices are in clients’ long-term interests
The founder of a City law firm specialising in employment and commercial disputes has described how it declines to pitch for work with clients deemed “controversial or ineligible”.
Bellevue Law also tries to build how clients might increase their positive social and/or environmental impact into the legal advice it provides.
Bellevue is one of a small but growing number of law firms to be a B Corp, a certification which requires them to meet certain social and environmental performance standards in a bid to balance profit with purpose.
It has launched a sustainable and responsible legal advice pledge [1], stating that it will decline to work for corporate clients in sectors defined by B Lab – which grants B Corp certification – as ‘controversial’ (charity lotteries, debt collection agencies in emerging markets, nuclear power or radioactive materials, mining, pharmaceuticals, recreational marijuana) or ‘ineligible’ (fossil fuel producers, gambling, pornography, prisons and detention centres, tobacco and weapons and defence).
B Corp certification would not preclude doing some work for clients in these sectors, but founder Florence Brocklesby said that while larger law firms “may take a more nuanced approach” to them, as a small firm Bellevue had “chosen to take a more streamlined approach” and “put a red line” through them.
Despite being invited, Bellevue had not pitched on “three or four occasions” in the last 12 to 18 months to potential clients in the sectors identified by B Lab. The policy does not apply to individuals.
Bellevue will also decline potential instructions from clients outside these sectors on matters which “we believe have a material adverse social and/or environmental impact”.
Further, when providing advice, the firm will, where possible, suggest how clients might increase their positive social and/or environmental impact (and reduce negative impact).
“We believe that sustainable and responsible practices will often be in clients’ long-term best interests,” the pledges says.
Ms Brocklesby said: “As lawyers, we don’t manufacture things. The real impact of what we do is in the advice we give.”
She gave the example of ethical approaches to redundancy. “The best outcome for a business often goes beyond their strict legal obligations.”
By offering enhanced packages, making the process more transparent and consulting staff in a more meaningful way, businesses could help maintain loyalty among the staff who remained, she said.
Bellevue had taken the approach that being a B Corp “provides a sensible and well-respected framework” for sustainable and responsible business, Ms Brocklesby explained, adding that the pledge was inspired by a session on sustainable professional advice at a B Corp festival in 2024.
Her firm, which has 35 lawyers and other staff, moved to a new and more sustainable building in the City last year.
The office uses green energy but because the firm’s lawyers work on a hybrid basis, and energy use when working from home is “something we can’t control”, Bellevue offered one-off payments of £100 to encourage staff to switch to green energy suppliers.
Ms Brocklesby said the firm’s approach “really does help” with recruitment, and “often people cite the fact that we are a B Corp as something that has attracted them”.
Ms Brocklesby said she would be delighted if other law firms “repurposed” Bellevue’s pledge or created their own.
“As lawyers, our impact goes far beyond our own operations. The advice we give can enable positive change or contribute to harm.
“Defining sustainable and responsible legal advice involves judgement and debate, but we hope the pledge will both guide our own work and encourage wider change across the legal profession.”