Client Onboarding Policy

In the interests of transparency, we are pleased to provide a summary of this policy here.

Before considering whether we are willing to work on a particular instruction, we assess potential clients by reference to two criteria: (i) their stated ambitions in relation to climate change; and (ii) evidence which demonstrates that the stated ambition is a genuine commitment.

Using these criteria, we then allocate prospective clients to one of three categories:

Category A

Companies with stated climate positive ambitions (i.e. a stated net zero commitment by an appropriate date, or other suitably ambitious transition targets), where those companies have already taken significant steps to demonstrate that their ambitions are a genuine commitment. We will generally be pleased to act on all appropriate mandates for Category A clients, in the same way as any other full service corporate law firm.

Category B

Companies who have committed to sufficiently ambitious climate positive targets but cannot yet adequately demonstrate that commitment in practice. We will generally be pleased to act on specific mandates with a climate positive impact for Category B clients. Once these clients have sufficiently evidenced a genuine commitment to their targets, they will be upgraded to Category A, at which time we will be pleased to act for these clients on general mandates, as above.

Category C

Companies who have not yet committed to sufficiently ambitious targets. Recognising that all companies need support as they embark upon a climate positive journey, we will act on limited mandates for companies in Category C. This support will be reserved to matters such as initial training, support in setting appropriately ambitious targets, impact assessments and the development of initial policies and frameworks. By the conclusion of these mandates, we would generally hope that clients would have committed to a suitably ambitious climate positive goal, at which point we would upgrade them to Category B and act for them more broadly on climate positive mandates, as above.

Additional considerations

Before accepting an engagement, we also consider more generally whether a potential client has engaged in activities which do not align with our firm’s values, or other activities which run contrary to our firm’s ‘World View’ (e.g. inappropriate lobbying, or inappropriately seeking to shift responsibility for addressing climate change to consumers).

To guard against the risk of companies using our reputation as a form of greenwashing, a standard, non-negotiable term of our engagement letter is that clients may not advertise themselves as having engaged our services without our permission.

A further non-negotiable clause in all of our engagement letters will give us the right to terminate an engagement at any time if we determine, in our sole discretion, that a client does not have a genuine climate positive ambition, or has sought to engage with our firm for inappropriate purposes (i.e. to seek to use their association with our brand name as a form of greenwashing).

The bottom line

Doing right by the planet, the natural environment and Generation-R, is more important to us as a firm than any engagement letter or fee income. We are careful in selecting who we work for, and what types of mandates we work on, to ensure that we are living our mission in everything that we do.