New Zealand Law Firms’ Need To Embrace Sustainable Practices, Says Former Lawyer And Sustainability Consultant

The growth of sustainable business and related issues is one that is generating heightened interest globally among law firms as much as businesses. One of the leading experts in New Zealand is former corporate lawyer Frankie McKeefry who works with sustainable practices company GoWell Consulting.

McKeefry, who worked as a corporate lawyer with Russell McVeagh for three years has long had a keen interest in issues relating to sustainability and climate change and has witnessed the rapid growth of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) areas of business.

In an extensive article on law news site LawFuel, McKeefry has indicated how law firms are moving slower than their accountancy and consultancy counterparts, who often have whole divisions focused on sustainable and ESG issues, they nevertheless are now displaying a far stronger inclination towards taking a lead in these areas.

“I think many lawyers potentially forget, or don’t even realise, the opportunity they have to be advocates for a better future for us all. We are some of societies’ luckiest – highly educated, well remunerated – so why are we not the critical part of the business community that is helping us transition to the circular, regenerative, inclusive and zero-carbon economy that we need so desperately.”

In his eyes, the COVID pandemic has only served to heighten the focus on areas like sustainability, particularly how we best work, balance work’s demands with our lives outside the legal world and how lawyers best show pastoral care and support for others.

The continued growth of the law’s interest in growing their sustainability practices has been driven in part by client demand, but also by the increasing focus of younger lawyers on the need to become more proactively involved in climate change issues.

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