The Legal ESG Summit

Chairperson's Introduction and Opening Remarks

Trusted Advisory in the Era of Converging Crises

OVERVIEW

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in an "era of converging crises." In this era, risks outweigh opportunities, and challenges such as geopolitical fragmentation, socioeconomic reordering, physical and mental health declines, technological acceleration, and the climate crisis are occurring simultaneously and synergistically. As people suffer the consequences of converging crises, trusted advisors face serious questions about: 

1. Their immediate capacity to inform clients about navigating converging crises; and
2. Their potential historical responsibility for minimizing risks to business and society associated with these crises.

Independently and in affiliation with NOW Partners, a boutique international management consultancy, Sanjay provides guidance on the era of converging crises, including how to use scenario planning to inform strategy development, governance, and resilience building.

Opportunity vs Obligation:

Building the ESG Business Case

OVERVIEW

ESG is permeating every practice group, demand for ESG related services is growing exponentially, and the pressure from clients and stakeholders for law firms to ‘Walk the Talk’ are increasing.

With global assets predicted to be worth over $50 trillion by 2025, ESG presents a massive opportunity for law firms. But with this rapidly evolving market also comes the need for law firms to get their own houses in order.

This session will highlight the opportunities the exist in this lucrative market, while also exploring the roles and influence that law firms can have in the broader ESG ecosystem.

The Future of Legal ESG:

New Lawyers, New Services, and New Products

OVERVIEW

Coming Soon

The Internal Race to Net Zero

OVERVIEW

The path to net zero can seem challenging when there are numerous approaches to manage a firm’s emissions.

It can be difficult to obtain emissions data or even then, reliable data for scope 2 energy or scope 3 emission sources from suppliers, such as travel. There are numerous platforms that offer expert advice and guidance to help calculate and manage emissions and some firms are managing their emissions in-house. What’s the right choice?  Our panel will share:

• How they are managing their emissions data
• Which emission sources firms are prioritizing and why
• Public and private commitments firms are making

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Growing ESG Litigation Risks

OVERVIEW

Public companies are facing increased pressure to develop and publish goals around Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) objectives. Plaintiffs are inventing new theories to attack businesses for alleged ESG-related deficiencies.

This session will review current theories advanced by plaintiffs and review how companies and law firms can manage their ESG initiatives, performance and representations to minimize their litigation exposure. The session also includes a discussion of the Green Guides and other FTC Guidance.

One Size Does Not Fit All:

A look at ESG practices from across the legal profession

OVERVIEW

The scope to the Environmental, social and corporate governance umbrella is huge, clients and their legal matters are as diverse as the law firms that advise them.

This panel brings together unique perspectives, from International, Big Law, Mid-Size and Specialty firms to examine differences in market position, capabilities and clients that can be leveraged when addressing ESG related matters.

Leveraging Hybrid Roles in Legal ESG

Overview

Featuring a White Collar Defense Vice Chair who Chairs the firm's Women's Initiative, and a Chief Pro Bono counsel and Social Impact Officer, this session will explore at how these lawyers really 'walk' the talk when it comes to advising their ESG clients, by:

• Leveraging internal roles to better support and serve clients
• Driving internal and externally facing business strategies based on client expectations
• Adopting a unified approach to provide more holistic ESG related services

Chairperson's Introduction and Opening Remarks

Client Perspectives:

Defining ESG Roles and Strategies in the Enterprise 

OVERVIEW

This session will discuss ESG roles for Legal, Sustainability and other risk functions from the perspective of three diverse global enterprises, revealing key need-to-know aspects for external counsel. The panel will also comment on how ESG Strategy is developed, as well as: 

• Why ESG roles, structure and accountability are still a work in progress in so many corporations 
• Where the General Counsel and her team can add the greatest value in ESG strategy and execution
• How Legal is working with Sustainability and other functions to align on ESG reporting
• Evolving ESG areas where the Legal function and the enterprise need help from external counsel 
  

Chasing the Dragon:

The Rise of the ESG Law Firm

OVERVIEW

Paul Clements-Hunt and Professor Paul Watchman have been at the forefront of ESG since its inception. 

In 2004 Paul Clements-Hunt and his team at the United Nations Environment Programme Initiative coined the ESG acronym. The following year Professor Paul Watchman and his team delivered the “Freshfields report” - A Legal Framework for The Integration of environmental, social and governance issues into institutional investment.

Their work, and insights into ESG ecosystem is unrivalled, in this interactive Q&A session they will discuss where ESG has come from, core concerns for law firm leaders and those working in ESG, and the outlook for ESG across the legal profession.

ESG as a Practice Differentiator

OVERVIEW

This unique session will take an in-depth look at how the Mintz ESG team built and maintain a cohesive cross-functional ESG Practice. Together they will address:

• Engaging internal stakeholders and firm leadership to support and leverage the ESG practice
• Building fundamental marketing resources to leverage existing assets and thought leadership content
• The value the DE&I roadmap brings to the ESG practice group
• How Federal ESG legislative priorities impact corporations and law firm ESG practice development
• Developing substantive guidance for SEC and other reporting requirements and specialty content covering environmental disclosures
  

Breaking the ESG Silo Culture in Law Firms

OVERVIEW

Internal processes and cultures of siloed action committees need to be broken down and reimagined. ESG related initiatives must evolve from “nice to have” selling points on the firm’s websites, to robust effective ESG programs that are measurable and accountable to stakeholders.

Chapman and Cutler’s Chief Operating Partner, William Libit will be joined by members of the management team and social impact and sustainability task force to discuss the firm’s journey to “walk the walk” with respect to social and environmental sustainability and share insights for integrating ESG initiatives into the business of law. This panel will examine:

• Infrastructure needed – programs, policies, advocates/roles
• Implementation – getting buy-in from partners/stakeholders
• Work with clients – opportunities and impact
• What’s next – climate action, ESG ratings

Utilizing Firmwide Expertise to Build a Cross Functional ESG Team

Overview

ESG practices groups are rapidly being announced as more firms focus or refocus their capabilities to keep up with the ESG demand.

While some firms are pooling talent and labelling it an ESG practice group, others are bringing together resources to build dedicated teams. This panel discussion will look at why these firms built their ESG teams, the considerations, and structures of the practice groups and how they utilize their approaches to better serve and advise their clients

Balancing ESG Strategies

OVERVIEW

The race to net zero and pressure from climate advocates on banks, investors, and insurers not to serve GHG emitting businesses has constrained their ability to obtain capital and insurance, potentially threatening their ability to operate. In addition, calls for “nature positive” targets for water, land, oceans and biodiversity—often called natural capital—create additional disclosure opportunities. Some sectors (e.g., manufacturing and food production) will require offsets to meet net zero goals. As the price for offsets continues to rise, so will demand for quality “co-benefits” from the natural capital aspects of these offsets, creating a need for strategies and methods for quantifying positive and negative impacts of the co-benefits of offsets. These also offer an entry to strategies that address corporate-wide natural capital risk and opportunities. This session will:

• Explore how the trend toward global harmonization of climate-related risk disclosure provides opportunities for businesses to receive credit for valuable ecosystem restoration and mitigation through incorporation of natural capital accounting in ESG reporting.
• Highlight the business community’s role in educating policymakers to understand how natural capital accounting can be used to mitigate climate change impacts, and making sure these important concepts are accepted in the full range of financial, sustainability, and securities disclosure regimes.
• Examine how this co-benefit accounting can be improve corporate-wide natural capital strategies that better manage risks and opportunities.

Do the Buyers of Legal Services Care About ESG When Choosing Outside Law Firms?

OVERVIEW

How important is a law firm’s ESG philosophy and program when clients/prospects are selecting outside counsel?  What aspects do they evaluate / assess, and why do they deem them important in their outside service providers?  How do they measure progress and impact? This panel discussion will answer these questions and more.