At multi-service environmental firm Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. ESG has been integrated across its service offering, and best practices are overseen by sustainability committee chair Brook Detterman.

Seattle-based ESG practice chair Lauren Hopkins and DC-based former Chesapeake Conservancy chair Paul Hagen are advising a number of global tech firms on issues concerning product stewardship and sustainability, including supply chain transparency and EPR legislation compliance. DC-based former EPA Regional Counsel Allyn Stern is assisting McLane Company with environmental compliance across 27 states.

The firm is also acting as pro bono general counsel to the Environmental Law Institute, where DC-based  former special counsel in the EPA’s OGC Stacey Halliday is on the Board of Directors, and Hagen is a former chair, as is DC-based John Cruden, a former Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division. Environmental practice group co-chair Pamela Marks serves on the Chesapeake Conservancy Board of Directors, and Hopkins serves as World Environment Center Board Secretary.

A founding member of the Law Firm Sustainability Network, the firm helped to develop the LFSN’s American Legal Industry Sustainability Standard in which it achieved a gold certification; it purchases Renewable Energy Certificates to cover 100% of its electricity usage nationwide. Since 2019, the firm has provided more than $750,000 in pro bono work via Stanford’s Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy, of which it is a founding member. It also sponsors the ACC’s Environmental & Sustainability Network.

B&D’s Sustainability & ESG practice provides legal advice on corporate sustainability policies, programs, and communications. This includes: strategic planning to develop or refine ESG targets and disclosure objectives; disclosure of ESG information; establishing and reporting on sustainability goals; developing environmental marketing claims; overseeing responsible sourcing and supply chain due diligence; establishing human rights policies and implementing human rights due diligence; advising on carbon neutrality via offsets, renewable energy purchases and usage, and mitigation of direct and indirect climate impacts; and managing other initiatives associated with implementing ESG policies and practices (e.g., waste minimization, recycling, use of plastics). B&D also helps clients evaluate and avoid future risk, and when necessary, defend against enforcement and litigation brought by governmental entities, regulators, investors, NGOs, and consumers. 

ESG is not a new area of practice for B&D – our more than 45 years of focus on U.S. and international environmental, natural resources, and supply chain issues allows us to help clients craft sustainability and ESG strategies and goals on a foundation of compliance and with insights into potential risks and best practices across industry sectors. Our deep experience with environmental management systems and environmental governance also positions us well to spot and troubleshoot issues before they derail client operations. 

We regularly produce articles, webinars, and other resources related to ESG. 

Founded in 1974, B&D has focused for nearly 50 years on environmental and natural resource law – including strategic counsel, compliance, enforcement, and litigation. Our founders include the first Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the first Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.  

Today, the firm has more than 125 lawyers, approximately equally divided between regulatory and litigation practitioners, and including some of the country’s foremost environmental attorneys, such as former Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division John Cruden and former EPA Region 10 General Counsel Allyn Stern. 65% of our lawyers have prior government career experience, and 31% of our lawyers have scientific or technical degrees, a plus when dealing with highly technical litigation and regulatory matters. 

We help our clients across industry sectors craft sustainability and ESG strategies, goals, and tactics. Our focus and depth in environmental law position us to help clients interpret and respond to fast-moving developments not only in environmental law but also evolving human rights and supply chain issues. In addition, our involvement with industry organizations, connections with U.S. and international regulators, and our carefully-curated network of counsel and consultants in over 50 countries enable us to deliver intelligence in real time and to manage multi-jurisdictional projects. 

Has your firm established a dedicated ESG/climate change/sustainability practice, team or task force?

 Yes, as a top-ranked environmental and litigation firm that has focused on environmental and natural resources law since its founding, B&D has dedicated practice groups in both Air and Climate Change, and ESG & Sustainability, among numerous other related areas.  

What type of work do you handle in connection with “green change”?

Our ESG-specific services include: 

• Advising on mandatory and voluntary disclosures of ESG information under numerous governmental and quasi-governmental schemes, and including ESG rating services. 
• Developing benchmarking reports and conducting gap analyses to other industry players. 
• Developing and substantiating environmental marketing claims. 
• Advising on carbon neutrality via offsets, renewable energy usage, and mitigation of climate impacts. 
• Overseeing responsible sourcing and supply chain due diligence, including relating to conflict minerals, forced labor, and human rights. 
• Establishing and reporting on sustainability goals. 
• Managing initiatives associated with implementing ESG policies and practices (e.g., waste minimization, circular economy, climate change, water use, recycling, use of plastics, social issues, corporate strategy). 
• Conducting risk assessments. 
• Responding to enforcement actions, governmental investigations, and litigation. 

Would you like to highlight a particular area of strength?

”Our vantage point as a decades-long leader in environmental and product regulatory practice both in the U.S. and internationally gives us unique perspective across a range of sustainability and ESG topics—from responsible sourcing to environmental justice and more. We draw upon these resources in providing comprehensive sustainability legal services to our clients.” 

Has your firm implemented any internal best practises?

We have developed a cross-disciplinary approach to assisting clients with ESG matters that also involves us working effectively with our clients’ other advisors – be they securities law counsel, independent verification entities, communications teams, and others – so we present a cohesive and efficient suite of services. 

Has your firm joined any external ESG-related projects, networks or initiatives?

B&D sponsors the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Environmental & Sustainability Network, where we participate in cross-industry conversations and present thought leadership about ESG legal trends. We have engaged for many years with corporate sustainability officers through, among other venues, our membership and sponsorship of the World Environment Center, a capacity-building organization on whose Board of Directors several B&D lawyers have served. We are also a founding member of the Law Firm Sustainability Network (LFSN) and are significantly involved in both the Environmental Law Institute and American Bar Association Section of Energy, Environment & Resources.  All of these organizations are discussing and advancing various aspects of ESG as it relates to the law.  

What are your firm’s ESG-related goals?

With respect to our client work, we aim to continue to be one of the top legal advisors to companies on ESG issues and to expand our offerings in this dynamic area. 

With respect to the firm itself, B&D is a founding member of the LFSN and contributed to LFSN’s development of the American Legal Industry Sustainability Standard (ALISS), a tool that guides and certifies law firm sustainability programs. Every two years since 2013, the firm has completed an ALISS self-assessment. In 2021, the firm achieved gold certification. We aim to continue this work and possibly achieve ALISS Platinum certification. 

B&D also participates at the “Leadership” level in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Green Power Partnership, purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in an amount equivalent to 100% of its electricity usage across all of its offices nationwide.  

Other ESG-related initiatives and goals include our firmwide waste minimization and energy efficiency efforts, selection of LEED-certified office space, and participation in community conservation and environmental preservation or restoration efforts. 

Is your firm involved in any relevant pro bono work?

• B&D is a founding member of the Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy initiative. Since 2019 we have provided more than $750,000 in pro bono legal services in support of environmental sustainability.  
• B&D serves as pro bono general counsel for the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and provides pro bono legal service to the Chesapeake Conservancy 

Is your firm involved in any public outreach or client education?

In addition to our engagement with the organizations listed above, we seek to mitigate risk and add value not only through our counsel but also through resources such as roundtables, training, and knowledge products. A few examples include: 

• Periodic webinars and written analyses of ESG topics. For example, we have hosted several sessions on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. 
• Environmental, Sustainability & Supply Chain Counsel Roundtable – B&D and the Information Technology Industry Council host this Roundtable to provide an opportunity for in-house counsel in the information technology industry to discuss expanding environmental, social, and sustainability requirements affecting IT products, services, and global supply chains. 
• Circular Economy and Plastics Symposium: Emerging Mandates and Business Implications – B&D conceived and hosted this symposium to help attendees navigate the latest U.S., regional, and global initiatives affecting the plastics landscape in 2020 and beyond. 
• Pharmaceutical EHS Counsel Roundtable – Comprised of in-house attorneys with leading research-based pharmaceutical companies who are responsible for EHS matters.  
• China EHS Roundtable – A forum for multinational companies with interests in China to learn about China’s rapidly increasing environmental, health, and safety regulations; manage enforcement risks; and ultimately advance EHS compliance, supply chain management, and sustainable development in China. 
• B&D collaborates with ELI on numerous programs and initiatives, such as ELI’s recently-launched Groundtruth podcast series on environmental justice.  

Have there been any recent non-confidential stand-out matters that were particularly innovative, pioneering or complex?  

• Serving as outside counsel for a new global multi-stakeholder sustainability platform that will set global standards for a chain of custody and sustainable production guidance for a commodity product. This included drafting the corporate charter, establishing membership and voting rules to govern platform operations, and coordinating antitrust and foreign local law reviews to establish the new entity. 
• Counseling a Fortune 50 technology company that is recognized as an industry leader on sustainability on corporate sustainability goals and disclosures. This includes corporate sustainability goal-setting, annual reporting on progress toward goals including through the company’s sustainability report, developing internal processes and structures to support a consistent approach to data collection and external communications, and legal reviews of sustainability ratings and rankings submissions and corporate filings. 
• Counseling a Fortune 500 power generation company on environmental reporting in its mandatory and voluntary disclosures, sustainability disclosures, and green marketing. This includes review of SEC annual filings, Climate Disclosure Project reports, and green marketing materials to ensure compliance with applicable federal requirements. 
• Counseling a Fortune 50 telecommunications company on its annual submissions to sustainability ratings and rankings organizations including the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. More recently, we assisted the company in the development and announcement of its long term sustainability vision and ambitious climate, product design, and waste-related goals.

When did ESG, climate change and/or sustainability become an area of focus at your firm?

Founded by early pioneers of environmental and natural resource law, B&D has focused for nearly 50 years on the topics encompassed in ESG. 

What has driven your firm’s involvement in a green transition? (Client demand? Business case? Personal attitudes/beliefs/initiatives?)

As one of the nation’s leading environmental law firms, it is natural that Beveridge & Diamond would take a leadership role in sustainability and ESG issues not only for our clients but also the firm itself. In its offices across the country, B&D translates its values into action, improving the firm’s sustainability and reducing its environmental impacts. 

Do you have any strategic plans to expand your work or your initiatives in this area in the future?

We will continue to both lead and be led by our clients on ESG matters as they face increasing – and increasingly complex and interrelated – challenges.  We anticipate significant continuing need for not only legal advice but also other types of advisory services and look forward to being part of the solution ecosystem.  

Where do you see the future of ESG/sustainability in the legal community (both in terms of legal offerings and firms’ best practises)?

While it will take some time, we envision that current conversations on ESG in multiple legal and regulatory fora – as well as the NGO community – will gradually become more harmonized (even if no less multifaceted in the underlying substance).  This, in turn, will lead to more certainty surrounding legal issues that can be addressed using traditional means, but also possibly the need to develop new legal mechanisms to address the diverse aspects of ESG as they apply to different market participants.  

Law firms will not be immune from this evolution, though the legal sector arguably faces fewer ESG challenges than some other industries whose activities are more closely tied to resource extraction, manufacturing, environmental impacts, and other ESG issues.