Corporate Social Responsibility

The Calcutta Run is a 10km charity run/walk which takes place every year in May and was started by A&L Goodbody 10 years ago. The Run starts and finishes at the Law Society headquarters at Blackhall Place and takes a route through the Phoenix Park. It is followed by a party and barbecue on the grounds of the Law Society.

A committee of people from A&L Goodbody organise the event, together with members of the Law Society. The proceeds are donated in equal measure to the Peter McVerry Trust and Goal. In addition, Partners and employees participate by running, walking, stewarding or acting as registrars for the Run. Every year over 120 people from A&L Goodbody participate in the Run and the day itself is a huge success with 1,400 runners and walkers taking part.

 Over the past 10 years the event has raised over €2m for these charities.

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Junior Achievement is part of a worldwide organisation reaching out to 7 million young people each year and helps to create a culture of enterprise within the education system. It was established in Ireland in 1995 and uses hands-on experiences to help young people understand the economics of life. In partnership with business and educators, Junior Achievement brings the real world to students, opening their minds to their potential.

Programmes begin at primary school level, teaching children how they can impact the world around them as individuals, workers and consumers and continue through to secondary school, right up to age 18, preparing students for their future careers. All Junior Achievement programmes are taught by business volunteers recruited from supporting organisations and are fully trained before they commence their programme.

Since 2001 A&L Goodbody has been actively involved in Junior Achievement both financially and by encouraging all of our employees to become volunteers. Over the last 6 years a total of 56 A&L Goodbody staff members have been involved in the programme. This covers those at every level from Trainee through to Associate and also support staff.

Our knowledge is our business and we believe it benefits the firm and each of us as individuals to share our knowledge in a positive way.

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For a number of years, A&L Goodbody solicitors and Trainees have volunteered at the Meath Street FLAC. They provide free legal advice to members of the public who may otherwise not have access to legal expertise. Free legal advice is given at the Meath Street Centre every Monday evening from 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm and the Firm encourages all of our Trainees to participate.

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Some of the charities we support include:

• ALONE
• Debra Ireland
• Mansion House Fuel Fund
• St Vincent de Paul
• Tekera Resource Centre, Uganda
• Jack & Jill Foundation
• Temple Street Children's Hospital
• Dublin Rape Crisis Centre
  

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At A&L Goodbody we pride ourselves on our dedication to client service, a commitment to diversity and a belief that supporting the public interest helps us all. We were therefore delighted when asked to offer our skills on a pro bono basis to the Inspire Foundation.

Assisting Inspire in establishing operations in Ireland enabled us to utilise the intellectual energy of many of the specialist departments within A&L Goodbody. These included our corporate department that advised on the incorporation of the entity and the application for its charitable tax exemptions. Our employment team advised on the contracts of those employed in Ireland by Inspire and our property team assisted in relation to its search for office space. Our specialist IP/IT team prepared the terms and conditions for their Irish website and privacy policy and web services contracts. The team in Goodbody Secretarial Limited advise on ongoing company secretarial matters for Inspire.

The work has involved individuals across the firm, from partners to solicitors, trainees and company secretaries alike. And we have all enjoyed meeting and getting to know the inspirational people that work with Inspire and to understand the work that they do. We look forward to continuing to work with them as they grow.

Those who avail of the service that Inspire offer are the main beneficiaries of our work but there is a benefit to the profession also. Pro bono work demonstrates, in the most practical way possible, our commitment to serve the interests of our community.

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Trigeneration CHP

A&L Goodbody has a policy of supporting environmentally sustainable technologies. A feasibility study was completed in 2004 which analysed the heating, cooling and electricity requirements of the building. This showed that there would be direct energy and CO2 emissions and cost savings from the installation of such a system and we decided to embark on a trigeneration combined heat and power (CHP) project which was installed in October 2004. Trigeneration is the use of a CHP plant in conjunction with an absorption chiller to produce heating, cooling and electricity. The absorption chiller operates by taking heat from the CHP plant and through a thermochemical process produces cooling. Minimal electricity is required. In place of conventional air conditioning, absorption chillers are more energy efficient since they operate on heat produced from an energy efficient CHP plant rather than electricity from the national grid.

Trigeneration has resulted in new CO2 savings of 1,400 tonnes and net energy cost savings of €50,000 per annum.

Recycling Waste

All of our confidential paper is removed for off site shredding, producing approximately 5.250 tonnes of re-cycling per month. In addition, it is estimated that we currently recycle 300KG of cardboard per week which is in turn used to produce tissue paper. On average we also recycle 860 bottles per week.

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A&L Goodbody is pleased to support JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme. This is part of the Government’s Jobs Initiative published in May 2011. The scheme will provide unemployed individuals with internship opportunities of six to nine months in organisations in the private, public, community and voluntary sectors. We look forward to engaging in this scheme and seeing its successful outcome for individual workers and the country as a whole.

For further information please visit: www.jobbridge.ie

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