Impact & ESG

Well before, but accelerated by, the social and health pandemics of 2020, businesses have been experiencing both a convergence and a paradigm shift—as they consider new drivers for business resiliency and marketplace calls to integrate value-based leadership and purpose into their everyday decision making. Driven by the institutional investor community, ESG has come into the mainstream to provide a loose framework of areas—among them, climate, human capital, diversity (board and workforce), human rights, cybersecurity/privacy protections, supply chain integrity, and executive compensation—that are challenging organizations to elevate their standards as corporate citizens and move toward stakeholder capitalism. At times, ESG may be narrowly viewed as a disclosure “to-do” list for better marketplace ratings. Companies that embrace these ESG principles as part of a holistic business strategy gain benefits beyond simply improved ratings.

This shift toward stakeholder capitalism is endorsed by the United Nations, the international community, institutional and sustainably or regenerative-minded investors, consumers and industry groups. Public and private organizations, across industries and regardless of size, must address growing regulatory requirements, new measurement systems, and a lack of a common approach to addressing the vast people, planet and profit issues under the nebulous umbrella of ESG. Organizations can face a daunting task of effectively prioritizing, strategizing, and operationalizing issues that are material and relevant to the business to manage reputational, operation, and sustainability risk as good corporate citizenship is balanced with profits. Instead of the marketplace continuously driving the ESG agenda, organizations need to take a proactive, collaborative, and strategic approach to risk management, due diligence, and finding new ways to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to foster opportunity for a new era. This need has never been greater.

HOW WE HELP

Building on the firm’s core values, global reach, and leadership in innovation, Seyfarth’s trans-disciplinary, global ESG team is guided by an entrepreneurial spirit grounded in values of co-creation, curiosity, fairness, and conscious leadership as we counsel our clients in the rapidly evolving ESG space. These values support an organization in taking a proactive approach to aligning its values, actions, and commitments with an eye toward continuous improvement on the ESG topics that are relevant and material for the growth and resiliency of its business. Seyfarth’s rich and deep history in many of the issues dominating the ESG landscape—while staying focused on evolving corporate governance principles—uniquely positions the team to partner with our clients to navigate a rapidly changing and challenging landscape.

We collaborate across multiple domestic  and international practice areas to provide a 360-degree view to a company’s ESG agenda. With a desire for more transparency and accountability, issues like diversity, human capital management, and human rights must be looked at through not only an employment lens, but a securities and governance lens as well. In addition, companies are increasingly looking at ways to incentivize purpose through their compensation programs with an eye toward both internal and external engagement.

Seyfarth’s team assists companies driven by or responding to stakeholder capitalism, impact companies, and B corporations through a variety of ESG issues and contexts. We assist in shaping a company’s ESG agenda through education as well as navigating the foregoing landscape to help identify and understand the material ESG issues for an organization.

Our holistic approach provides a full range of services across the ESG landscape, including:

Strategic consultative and legal advice. Providing intelligent solutions with your business in mind.

• Education on the ESG space whether from the perspective of an organization in shaping an ESG agenda, an investor or buyer and retirement plan fiduciary, including the leading benchmarking and reporting standards, and its distinction from the approaches of certified B corporations and impact companies.
• Leading with a consultative approach, but applying our legal acumen, we provide strategic advice and design thinking for company directors and executive leadership for identifying material ESG issues and effective management, aligned with core corporate governance principles.
• Develop pragmatic and legal guidance for management and staff across teams and business units—including legal, compliance, risk, HR, operations, supply chain, procurement, investment management, community, and communications.
• Assess and guide the design of executive compensation and other incentive programs as drivers for strategy.

Practical implementation. Real and valuable techniques to reach your ESG goals.

• Design an effective plan of action for risk management, due diligence and opportunity, informed by best practices and, to the extent relevant, in line with the UN SDGs, UNGPs on Business and Human Rights, international principles, leading disclosure frameworks and guidance, and a growing body of laws and regulations.
• Conduct risk assessments, policy gap/synergy analysis and formulate policies, standards, and codes of conduct, to address risk and harmonize the material issues—including, for example, developing global risk mitigation strategies, drafting contractual protections, and operationalizing audits and other due diligence assessments.
• Identify and assess salient ESG, sustainability, and human rights risks linked to business operations, products, and relationships.
• Conduct relevant impact assessments, internal investigations, cyber/privacy breach remediation, and stakeholder engagement.
• Recommend practical measures for preventing, mitigating, and remediating any actual or potential risks of human rights.
• As appropriate, create tailored training programs and resources for management, staff, suppliers, and other stakeholders in managing modern slavery risks.
• Review and evaluate the performance of suppliers, subcontractors, manufacturers, and other business partners on compliance, and set newly created benchmarks to govern and assess the same.
• Guide and support the development of effective cross-functional teams.
• Provide representation where matters result in litigation and/or threatened litigation.

Market leading reporting. Leveraging Seyfarth Labs, we evaluate relevant market trends.

THE SEYFARTH EXPERIENCE

Our ESG practice is the product of the collaborative and innovative culture that Seyfarth has long been known for. Additionally, the firm’s commitment to social impact is shared by every ESG team member. We draw upon our diverse backgrounds and geographic locations, childhood and family influences, and professional experiences with company and community leaders to drive our mission and find purpose in our efforts.

Members of our group share a common vision and purpose to synthesize their expertise for the benefit of our clients.  With legal experience spanning decades of consultative and compliance-oriented executive compensation, internal investigations, fiduciary duty and securities litigation defense, corporate governance, and international supply chain/procurement advice and negotiation, our leaders are well-positioned to blend both business and legal acumen in navigating an area that is not one-size-fits-all. 

Knowing ESG and related stakeholder approaches to business is a fast-moving area that is, in many respects, transitioning from soft law to hard law, our group leaders also draw upon expertise informed by a varied external board of advisors with deep sustainability experience, in-house counsel perspectives, and knowledge of what keeps board members up at night. They are intent on delivering methodical and practical business advice shaped by a legal mindset.

Our group members include a board advisor of a growing, mission-based regenerative fashion brand, an impact investor, TedX speakers, human rights advocates engaged in cutting-edge approaches for addressing modern slavery in business, and a participant who provided commentary on the Paris Agreement.  We use our legal talent to make positive change and provide certainty in an uncertain world.

It’s no longer acceptable to strive for change, rather be the change. That is our mission.