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Corporate Social Responsibility

BarentsKrans’ activities are rooted in the conviction that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) helps everyone who works for and with us to find more pleasure in what they do. We are aware of our role in both business and society, and we do business while considering the world around us. We shoulder our responsibility and share the organisation’s knowledge and success. We call this dedicated to society.

We are committed to creating a better world together, step by step. Our CSR policy is founded on three cornerstones:

  1. Ecological footprint
  2. Social impact
  3. Diversity and inclusion

Contact

Ecological footprint Social impact Diversity and inclusion

Ecological footprint

BarentsKrans aims to reduce its ecological footprint in order to be a future-proof organisation. We have introduced sustainability measures in our practice and are making conscious choices focused on:

  • Reducing energy and water consumption
  • Sustainable waste processing aimed at recycling raw materials
  • Sustainable procurement of materials and consumables
  • Transportation of people and resources that is as sustainable as possible
  • Our employees’ physical and mental health
  • Encouraging a sustainable lifestyle

We have made progress in these areas in the past few years, as our building now has a BREEAM sustainability certificate and we are making green choices when purchasing our catering, for example. We are also aiming for digital working to become the norm, trying to reduce our paper use and encourage the use of public transport.

Sustainability is now firmly embedded in our organisation. We clearly communicate our impact on the planet by measuring our carbon footprint. BarentsKrans aims to reduce its ecological footprint and eventually become as carbon neutral as possible.

Social impact

We value knowledge and encourage thought leadership, which is not just limited to our colleagues and clients. We believe in sharing knowledge, which extends beyond the legal field.

Since 2019, BarentsKrans has been involved in JINC as a main sponsor. This organisation works with businesses and schools to empower young, socio-economically deprived people to give them a good start and to reduce the inequality of opportunity in the employment market. In addition to our role as sponsor, we actively contribute to JINC’s goals by organising workshops and other activities.

Pro Bono Connect

The United Nations has defined access to justice and improving its effectiveness as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). That is why BarentsKrans has been affiliated for many years with Pro Bono Connect, a public interest clearinghouse that acts as an intermediary between civil society organisations that need legal assistance but lack sufficient financial resources for this, and law firms that are willing to provide legal advice. Through Pro Bono Connect, our lawyers and civil-law notaries are committed to a wide range of social projects in which we actively share our legal knowledge

Diversity and inclusion

BarentsKrans is committed to providing a safe, inclusive working environment where employees can be themselves. A working environment where everyone is welcome and feels at home, irrespective of their cultural or other background, gender, sexual orientation, personal beliefs or (work) disabilities.

We embrace influences from different cultures and subcultures. This creates the best environment, not only for our people but also for our clients, as it broadens our view, adds to our job satisfaction and positively impacts our collaboration.

We focus on three aspects of diversity and inclusion: (i) gender equality, (ii) room for cultural diversity, and (iii) organisation-wide support for the LGBTIQA+ community.

We train our colleagues to recognise unconscious bias, which creates awareness in both our recruitment policy and our performance reviews. Our office is also a partner of Bridges Network, a network that gives bicultural law students easy access to our lawyers.

Contact

BarentsKrans has a CSR Committee; Cosima Stroeve is the point of contact for this committee. Questions and suggestions on the BarentsKrans CSR policy can be addressed to mvo@barentskrans.nl.