Greening your law firm.

• Author: Kibert, Nicole C.
• Position: Environmental and Land Use Law

Going green is critical to address climate change, improve efficiency, cut expenses, and be positioned for the changes and stresses sure to come. Given our state's precarious position with regard to sea level rise and risk of hurricanes, coupled with the fact that the state-owned insurance company has significant exposure in the event of a hurricane, it is more critical than ever that the private sector and local government take responsibility for environmental impact of all operations. While the greening measures for law firms I have provided below may seem like small steps, they all add up. In addition, the green message is gaining strength and urgency. Businesses have responded strongly and the use of "green" marketing claims has expanded rapidly in recent years.

By adopting just one new sustainable behavior a month, your law firm can have a significant, positive environmental impact. Employees at all levels of a firm can facilitate greening their law firm. (1) In light of this, the American Bar Association and the Environmental Protection Agency have teamed up to create a Law Office Climate Challenge. (2) This program encourages law offices to cut down on paper use, conserve energy, and support the development of renewable energy by joining at least one of three EPA partnership programs, or by implementing best practices for office paper management, the use of renewable energy, and better energy management. The three partnership programs are WasteWise (best practices for waste reduction), Green Power Partnership (renewable energy options/buy carbon offsets), and ENERGY STAR[R] (adopt an energy management plan designed for law offices). The greening strategies in this article aid in satisfying the requirements for each of these programs and provide sustainable best practices for greening your law firm.

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First Steps

The most important step to greening your law firm is the creation of a realistic greening plan. To help you start, a sample greening plan is posted on the Environmental and Land Use Law Section's website at http://eluls.org/green-law-firm. At a minimum, your greening plan should include communication about existing initiatives with all employees, the development of a timetable for rolling out new initiatives in a realistic time frame (think baby steps), progress reports, and openness for re-evaluation when necessary. Marketing is a powerful motivator for embarking on a greening plan and it is important to remember that the key to combating greenwashing is integrity. "Greenwashing" (or the act of misleading consumers regarding a company's environmental practices) is discussed in detail in the next section of this article. Hence, keep in mind you need to be able to back up any greening claims by knowing your program and being able to verify and substantiate any marketing related to your greening program.

* Develop a Green Plan--A good greening plan has a core communication element: Identify at least one attorney and one staff member in each office who can explain any existing sustainability initiatives and act as greening champions for new initiatives. These individuals will spearhead new initiatives as they are rolled out. Next, it is key to begin office-wide communication with a survey of each office to identify what good actions your company is already taking for the environment: What is recycled? Are your shredding vendors recycling the shredded paper? Are you recycling your printer cartridges? What is your technology group's policy on electronics disposal? Do you distribute all firm-wide communications (management reports, billing sheets, calendars, newsletters, promotional samples, etc.) electronically rather than by hardcopy? Once you obtain this information, communicate with your employees about those positive actions your firm is already taking for the environment. A great way to do this is by creating a section about your greening initiatives on the firm's intranet or shared server, which explains existing and new policies/programs.

* Employ the Three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle--Reducing energy use is first on this list. Visit EnergyStar.gov to find resources about how to reduce energy consumption and design a plan for implementation. Identify a benchmark that works for you, then set a goal and evaluate your progress at regular intervals, at least annually. Law offices that reduce their energy usage by at least 10 percent, if they own their building, or their electricity usage if they are tenants, will be recognized as a law office climate challenge leader under the ABA/ EPA's ENERGY STAR[R] program. To this effect, encourage all employees to turn off lights and appliances when not used. This can also include the installation of motion sensors in the office that turn off lights when rooms are not in use. In law firms, or any business for that matter, there is often the concern of "face time," or the concept of leaving lights on to give the appearance of staying late. This is a cultural shift that must be addressed internally. By eliminating the pressure of "face time," the chances of employees implementing energy saving techniques increases. According to the EPA...