Bellevue Law
How Bellevue Law came to submit their BIA with confidence
A boost of expertise for a boutique powerhouse
Bellevue Law was created to address the imbalance in flexible working in their industry – particularly for women – Bellevue Law offers the quality and expertise of a City firm, specialising in employment law, legal disputes, investigations, private clients and regulatory and compliance work. As the first UK law firm to be accredited under the Good Business Charter, which recognises ethical, responsible and sustainable business practices, seeking B Corp certification was a natural next step.
- B Corp
First submission concerns, and ambiguous questions
Bellevue Law built a reputation on their responsive, committed and personable service. But as a relatively young and small organisation, did not have the sustainability expertise to respond and commit to unravelling the complexities of their B Impact Assessment with confidence.
The team had made great progress, achieving a preemptive score of 78.9, just shy of the 80-point threshold for submission. To avoid losing momentum, founder Florence Brocklesby sought out some expertise, and found Seismic.
While the BIA’s questions and their weighting are tailored to companies based on their size, sector and location, Bellevue Law’s progressive business model meant some questions were not an easy fit.
To answer them appropriately and gain an accurate score required interpretation from an expert’s standpoint of experience.
“We initially asked Seismic to support with a review of our BIA ahead of submission, however – the team has gone above and beyond to help us better understand and build upon our impact.“
Florence Brocklesby
Founder at Bellevue Law
“With expertise and coaching, we feel more confident as a business and empowered to progress with our B Corp certification journey.”
Florence Brocklesby
Founder at Bellevue Law
Building accuracy, clarity and confidence around the score
Seismic set about conducting a robust analysis of Bellevue Law’s BIA. This involved a rigorous reassessment of their B Corp score which, when accurately calculated, dropped two points. To raise the score over and above the 80-point mark, it was important to also identify swift but meaningful opportunities Bellevue Law could implement straight away.
Some of the shortfall in points was accounted for in a lack of evidence to support certain answers. Seismic advised on further evidence that could be gathered to corroborate specific data and support any questions asked by B Lab during the verification phase.
It was important to take the time to really think about how to answer correctly, for Bellevue’s business model.
By conducting workshops and stakeholder interviews, Seismic worked with Bellevue Law to explore the rationale behind each answer. To establish an authoritative baseline, it was important to comb through the whole BIA, checking which answer they had selected, with Seismic’s expertise.
As you might expect in a company founded to better support women in the workplace, Bellevue scored highly under Governance and Workers. But it was possible to identify more that they could do within these areas of strength. There were plenty of excellent initiatives Bellevue was carrying out day-to-day, and we advised them to further formalise their good governance practice.
While Bellevue Law already reported on its greenhouse gas emissions, we proposed that they should implement, measure and report on targets for carbon emission reduction in future, providing some goals for continuous improvement – a necessary part of maintaining B Corp accreditation.
“Seismic has gone above and beyond to help us better understand and build upon our impact. It’s been an incredibly insightful and enjoyable process.”
Florence Brocklesby
Founder at Bellevue Law
Knowing where to focus attention through a truly holistic analysis
Thanks to the great work Bellevue Law put in they achieved a working score of 88.3 – going on to certify with a fantastic 88.6 points, a full 10 points higher than their original calculation, a testament to their determination and commitment to making impactful changes within the business.
Walking the walk
By verifying their practices with collected evidence and new policies, Seismic helped Bellevue Law build a foundation to elevate themselves as a leading law firm that is answering an industry-wide problem – of female empowerment and creating access to work for women. They now have the proof to substantiate their claims and sustain their purpose, enabling founder Florence to communicate their sustainable, purpose-led stance to future clients, stakeholders and prospective talent with confidence.
“B Corp enabled Bellevue Law to highlight the fantastic initiatives they had in place for their people. The B Corp Appraisal instilled confidence in their score and identified key areas of improvement to drive sustainability in the company.”
Charlie Walter, Sustainability Consultant at Seismic
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