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Our three-year responsible business plan, launched in 2023, sets out how we will adapt to our changing world and integrate responsible business throughout our firm: from how we make decisions, to how we build an inclusive culture, decarbonise our operations and support our people to thrive at work.
Our intention is always to do the right thing and proactively take responsibility for our impact on people and the planet.
In addressing our impacts on people and the planet, we work with and are members of a number of external organisations. Explore our extensive certifications and affiliations.
Our latest responsible business report
This year’s Responsible Business Report documents the actions we have taken in 2024-25 to meet the demanding goals we set for ourselves. It also serves as a statement of intent from our senior leadership to go further and do more to achieve these goals.
Our responsible business strategy is guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which provide a global framework to shape our approach and drive our ambition. This strategy outlines how we will adapt to a changing world and integrate responsible business throughout our firm - from decision making, to building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations, and supporting our people to thrive at work. Through our double materiality assessment, we identified the issues most material to both our business and stakeholders, ensuring that we are aligned with a sustainable future.
Our focus areas
Our responsible business journey
2025
- Launched our refreshed global wellbeing strategy.
- Ranked in the top 5% of companies rated by EcoVadis in the Legal and Accounting Activities industry.
- Established the Responsible Business Leadership Group.
2024
- Had our net-zero target approved by SBTi.
- Formalised our Thrive Together programme, which unites colleagues, clients, charity partners and communities to focus time, skills and resources where they’re needed most.
2023
- Appointed our first Head of Responsible Business.
- Officially adopted Diversity Lab’s Disability Inclusion commitments.
- Conducted our first double-materiality assessment, which gave us greater understanding of the financial, operational, personal and environmental issues affecting us and which we affect.
- Became an accredited Living Wage employer in the UK.
- Publicly shared our aim for 10% of those promoted to the partnership in the UK each year to come from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
2022
2021
- Achieved Mansfield Certification in the UK and US for the first time.
- Became a founding signatory of the Greener Litigation Pledge, a collective of solicitors’ firms, barristers’ chambers and other disputes professionals committed to reducing the environmental impact of the activities they conduct across England and Wales.
- Publicly shared and committed to our target of 40% female partnership by 2030.
2020
- Signed up to United Nations Global Compact.
- Published our first Responsible Business Report.
Latest news and updates
Key contacts
Kate is Kennedys' global head of responsible business. She sets the responsible business strategy with the aim of integrating responsible business into the firm’s operations.
Ben is Head of Kennedys’ Corporate and Commercial Division and the partner sponsor for Responsible Business.
Marianne is our Senior Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager, and oversees our DE&I programmes and initiatives around the world.
Michelle is Kennedys’ Senior Social Impact Manager, overseeing Thrive Together, our global social impact programme, which empowers our people to drive meaningful change through volunteering and community initiatives.
Jennifer is our global wellbeing manager, who oversees our work to support the health and wellbeing of our people.
Olivia is Kennedys' Sustainability & Environmental Manager. She overseas the measurement of Kennedys' annual carbon footprint and implements initiatives which aim to drive down the firms global emissions.
Emma Blackstone is Kennedys’ Pro Bono Manager and oversees the firm’s global pro bono programme. The programme aims to support staff to identify and engage in meaningful pro bono activity that aligns to Kennedys’ priority UNSDGs, specifically SDG 16.