The 2009 LSA annual report

2009 is the first year that LSA members have reported performance against the LSA Principles. The report details the results of the first ever survey of the LSA members’ climate change performance and preparedness, and is a significant sustainability milestone for the legal sector. It provides a baseline for understanding our members’ strengths and will ensure that we continue to provide the best possible support and resources to assist organisations in capturing improvement opportunities.

The key reasons for carrying out the self-assessment were to enable the LSA to:

• understand how the LSA principles are being acted on
• develop collective understanding of best practice
• assess the impact of the LSA
• identify areas of shared difficulty and opportunities for the development of further tools and resources
• provide a reporting structure for individual LSA members to use in their own communications
• forecast member activity for 2010.

The results of this year’s survey show that 57 per cent of LSA members had calculated their organisation’s carbon footprint and an additional 33 per cent were planning to do so in 2010. Of the members that calculated their carbon footprint, two-thirds had used the LSA Carbon Protocol to do so.

LSA members vary significantly in size, from global organisations to small and regional law firms. This diverse knowledge-sharing environment enables us to ensure that we are providing guidance on key issues that is suitable to every type of law firm. Although some energy-saving investments can involve significant pay back times, many of the actions members can take to cut carbon simply involve spending less. Reducing costs makes business sense in any economic climate and is even more crucial during a recession.