OUR ETHICAL FRAMEWORK
OUR ETHICAL FRAMEWORK
OUR ETHICAL FRAMEWORK
Our Ethical Framework sits at the heart of our culture and supports the delivery of our business strategy, including our ambition to lead the way on responsible business for our people and our communities, our clients and our marketplace, and the world around us.
The framework encompasses our values and the high standards to which we hold ourselves in everything we do. It guides us in how to do the right thing.
Supporting our people and unlocking potential
Working professionally in our marketplace
Positively impacting the world around us
We respect each other and value everyone. We build inclusive working environments to enable talented people to contribute in different ways and reach their full potential.
We conduct ourselves with integrity and honesty, recognising our individual and collective responsibility to act in the public interest by prioritising trust and confidence in the legal profession. We strive to achieve the highest standards in everything we do, respecting our professional obligations and the laws and legal rights we must follow.
We work as a team with each other, our clients and our communities to design and deliver solutions and to help build a fairer and more sustainable society. We encourage collaboration, creativity and innovation.
We respect each other and value everyone. We build inclusive working environments to enable talented people to contribute in different ways and reach their full potential.
We conduct ourselves with integrity and honesty, recognising our individual and collective responsibility to act in the public interest by prioritising trust and confidence in the legal profession. We strive to achieve the highest standards in everything we do, respecting our professional obligations and the laws and legal rights we must follow.
We work as a team with each other, our clients and our communities to design and deliver solutions and to help build a fairer and more sustainable society. We encourage collaboration, creativity and innovation.
We believe that celebrating the right behaviours not only strengthens our culture, but also inspires everyone to strive for excellence. We tie behaviours into reward and recognition through our performance reviews and ‘Spotlight’ platform. Throughout the year, managers can spotlight colleagues who demonstrate our values in meaningful ways. Below are some illustrative examples of the behaviours that might be recognised:
Respect
This could be rewarding a colleague who took additional time to actively listen to, guide and support team members, especially those new to the firm, helping them feel equipped and confident to perform well.
Integrity
Another example is rewarding a colleague who has shown strong personal accountability in their decision-making, always aligning with legal, ethical and professional obligations, even when those decisions were challenging or required difficult conversations.
Collaboration
We also celebrate those who play a proactive role in a team projects, co-designing and delivering joined‑up solutions by working closely with colleagues, clients and/or wider community partners to achieve shared outcomes.
In addition, we actively reward contributions to our strategic objective to “lead the way on responsible business” through our Responsible Business Bonus Scheme, which recognises and celebrates outstanding impact in the delivery of our responsible business objective. Following the introduction of our 'Responsible Business Hours' initiative at the start of financial year 2025/26, everyone in the business has an aspirational target to contribute 25 'Responsible Business Hours' over the year. To ensure we accurately capture and reward these contributions, we also introduced time recording ability for everyone, i.e. including both fee earners and Business Services colleagues. All employees are eligible for the Responsible Business Bonus Scheme, so whether colleagues work directly with clients or support our business operations, their contribution matters.
