Environmental, Social And Governance With Emma Carey From MSB Solicitors

MSB Solicitors is reputably known for being one of the North West’s most trusted law firms. There are 14 departments ranging in expertise from Family to Property Law, whilst having an award-winning track record when dealing with issues of separation, divorce and child disputes. We sat down with Managing Partner Emma Carey to discuss environmental, social and governance and what MSB solicitors are doing to help. 

What does environmental, social and governance mean to you and MSB?

Environmental, social and governance runs through the core of MSB and we encourage it wherever and whenever we can. I’m really proud that across MSB, our staff sit on the boards of 21 charitable organisations.

Each year we choose a charity to fundraise for and I believe people should champion organisations that are important to them as we’ve all got things close to our hearts. We have been working with the Anthony Walker Foundation for the past four years, and it’s now our official charity. It’s so fulfilling to see the lasting relationships we have built with them and observe the difference our continued support has made to the organisaton. 

But it isn’t only about charity, it influences the way we run our business and everything that we do, whether it’s enhancing the services we provide for our clients, the work we do in our communities, or the ways in which we do business. We want to make sure everything we do delivers social value.

We have recently moved from referring to our work in this area as corporate social responsibility, to instead referring to it as ‘environmental, social and governance’. This is because while environmental, social and governance holds businesses accountable for their social commitments in a qualitative and anecdotal way, environmental, social and governance helps us to measure or quantify our social efforts more meaningfully, so we can really see the impact we’re having. 

Companies need to step up to the plate and prove that they’re serious about reporting their progress by moving from corporate social responsibility to environmental, social and governance reporting. 

MSB has recently expanded into Manchester

Why’s it important for companies to do this?

There are a multitude of reasons but mainly because it’s the right thing to do. We should all support the communities in which we work as it unites organisations by immersing themselves in the causes that matter. 

From a lawyer’s perspective, we need to be aware of what’s going on in our communities in order to support the clients we work with. We also do a lot of pro bono work with organisations in our communities, such as our weekly drop-in clinic at Blackburne House, during which we provide free advice around family law. 

My personal experience is that the responsibility should come from the leaders of the businesses – you have to lead by example and practice what you preach. This way, you can encourage others to follow suit and breed a culture of giving back across the business.

What has MSB done to lead by example?

We’ve committed to a plethora of fundraising campaigns such as our ‘You cannot be what you cannot see’ campaign, which saw us showcasing black role models across the city – we had a huge amount of support, with Everton and Liverpool Football Club getting behind it. In October last year, we embraced Black History Month, sharing positive role models in Liverpool’s black history, such as our current Mayor Joanne Anderson, and helping to raise money for St George’s Hall, which is aiming to create a statue of Mary Seacole, a British-Jamaican nurse who served in the Crimean war.

Part of our efforts include working with like-minded people and businesses. For example, the Sovini Group is a company whose culture is similar to ours at MSB. We partnered with them to celebrate Chinese New Year, to supply funding to the Hung Gar Kung Fu School for three new lions ahead of the Lunar New Year celebrations. 

Ian Mitchell, Managing Director of Housing at The Sovini Group said: “We are driven by our purpose to create opportunities and change lives, and recognise our role as a key contributor to the social and economic development of the North West. Our registered providers, One Vision Housing and Pine Court Housing Association, are central to the creation of thriving, inclusive and diverse communities across the region, but our role doesn’t stop there.”

He added: “Our dedicated Stakeholder Engagement Teams work hard to support local volunteering and community groups to achieve their goals, through an annual commitment to our Community Development Fund. During 2020/21 we were incredibly proud to have generated over £17.7 million in social value through our fund and corporate social responsibility  initiatives.”

What will MSB do in the future?

We have been supporting and sponsoring grassroots football club, MSB Woolton for the past six years, and we’ll continue to do so. This umbrella of football teams now has 140 teams compared to just 40 a few years ago. Incredibly, over 2,000 children from South Liverpool attend and it’s now the biggest team in Europe! It isn’t only financial support that we give; our own Mark Forman sits on the board, we attend prize-giving days and during the pandemic, we joined up with Little League to deliver food packages.

Participation is a big thing for me; I’ve been on charity boards since I was a trainee solicitor and encourage our lawyers to do the same. Investing time is just as important as financial aid for those organisations, whilst enabling you to meet people across different sectors and grow your network. These experiences help the development and confidence of junior team members by exposing them to a variety of people from diverse backgrounds, plus, it’s another benefit for our business, so there really is no reason not to get involved. 

I’m proud to be a trustee of the Anthony Walker Foundation, Blackburne House, Cornerstones, Liverpool CAB, NSPCC and a patron of Mandela 8, which aims to continue Nelson Mandela’s legacy. 

Nelson Mandela was given the freedom of Liverpool before he died, and now a local memorial is being created for him. Liverpool City Council has provided funding for a memorial in Princes Park, which will include a bridge built to a small island hosting 27 drums, to represent each year he served on Robben Island. The drums will be given to local schools beforehand to decorate and the Mandela family is coming to Liverpool to launch the memorial and take part in a series of events.

Ultimately, MSB and companies like our client Regenda and our marketing partner, Agent, actively support worthwhile and important causes, whether it’s collections for domestic abuse victims or fundraising events. Agent is a local business that shares our culture and beliefs so much that I feel we are a part of each other’s organisations. Agent’s CEO Paul Corcoran is a perfect example of someone who leads from the front in showing how leaders can champion environmental, social and governance.

From experience, what are the best ways companies can make a difference? 

Fundraising and volunteering are always really effective, but the most valuable thing businesses can invest is their time. A huge part of the culture of a business is diversity and inclusion; there is no greater responsibility. As a leading woman at MSB, I have to address that women need an equal chance of getting to the top, as do those with disabilities and other characteristics that would traditionally hold them back. It’s something that we actively promote at MSB.

A lot of companies share their diversity statistics, but there’s a big difference between statistics and reality. The landscape is gradually getting better on this front, but we can’t take our eye off the ball when there is still a long way to go. On International Women’s Day this year, we acknowledged the fact that there are 51% of women in the legal profession but only 17% of partners are women, so clearly there is a long way to go as the statistics often only tell half the story. 

It’s important to note that we take care of people internally as well as externally, and we’ve done this thanks to inspiration from other leaders. For example, I was at an event in which James Timpson was speaking and he mentioned that Timpson gives every employee their birthday off – I was really inspired by this initiative and it’s one that we have now adopted at MSB. 

It’s really important for us to look after our team members – our staff get 29 days holiday per year, plus public holidays. Needless to say, since the pandemic, we have adopted a flexible working scheme that achieves a good balance for employers and employees alike. In the same way we invest time into our chosen charities, it is vital we invest in our staff so they can enjoy a healthy work-life balance.

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