Corporate social responsibility
Community programmes
The Firm engages in a range of community programmes including:
Business in the Community
We are members of Business in the Community and have Gold membership in Nottinghamshire Cares, a BiTC initiative aimed at increasing the volunteering undertaken by local companies. We have representatives on the operations and leadership boards of Cares.
Championing Notts
We are members of Championing Notts, a corporate citizenship scheme in which Experience Nottinghamshire calls on leading companies and institutions to give backing to the marketing of Nottinghamshire.
View the Championing Notts website
School partnerships
State School for the Deaf, Accra, Ghana
The Firm has an ongoing programme of support for the State School for the Deaf in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
Harry Carlton School, East Leake
We are engaged in active partnership with Harry Carlton School including participation in the 'Partners in Leadership' scheme. Over 40 volunteers from the firm are involved in an ICT project ('E-volve'), which is run with the support of Nottinghamshire Cares and NEBA (Nottingham Education Business Alliance). This scheme has been extended further. We now have 8 volunteers partnered with Selston School in Nottingham.
Fosse Primary School, Leicester
Our Leicester office has set up a Right to Read Programme at the Fosse Primary School in Leicester, in partnership with Leicestershire Cares and LEBC.
Scotholme Primary School
Freeth Cartwright has teamed up with Scotholme Primary School to support them in the provision of equipment and food to ensure breakfast can be provided for those pupils who, for whatever reason, are not able to eat breakfast before going to school. Volunteers from the firm regularly attend to assist at breakfast time.
Our Nottingham office has recently set up a Right to Read programme with Scotholme school. This is a national campaign that promotes literacy in primary schools, through recruiting volunteers to spend an hour a week reading with children. Volunteers from Freeth Cartwright are asked to listen to children read, talk to them about the reading materials and sometimes get involved in literacy games.
With Scotholme we identified a further way of supporting the school through a gardening project, a number of volunteers spent an afternoon at the School with the Children weeding, planting, laying bark chippings and generally helping to spruce up the gardens.
Pro Bono schemes
Legal Pro Bono
Our medico-legal team conducts a range of pro bono work for victims of medical accidents, and has undertaken substantial cases on this basis.
Nottingham Playhouse
The Firm is honorary legal advisor to Nottingham Playhouse and one of the partners acts as company secretary.
Southern Derbyshire Pro Help
We are founder and active members of this organisation, providing professional assistance to charitable and non profit-making bodies.
Partnership with Nottingham Law Centre
The Centre, which provides legal advice to citizens, now benefits from the support of our trainee solicitors one morning per week on a pro bono basis. In addition to our lawyers' attendance, the firm is providing administrative assistance and sponsorship. The senior solicitor at the Centre, Sally Denton, formerly trained with Freeth Cartwright LLP.
Charity support
We are committed to supporting a number of charities, for example:
Our New Nominated Charity for 2007/2008 is Hospice at Home.
Hospice at Home provides nursing care and support in the home environment for people in the latter stages of life and provides periods of respite and support for patients' carers. A variety of booked nursing shifts over the 24 hour period, 365 days per year according to nurse availability. We aim to support patients to remain at home, to maximise their quality of life and to be able to die with peace and dignity.
http://www.hospiceathome.org.uk/
Children in Need
Firm-wide activities in support of children in need are undertaken on an annual basis.
We also organise other fund raising activities on a regular basis for example for Red Nose Day, MacMillan Cancer Care and Action Aid, and one-off events such as the provision of support to the Asian tsunami earthquake victims through the Disaster Emergency Committee.
The Padley Group
Our Derby office is supporting The Padley Group for 2007/08.
The Padley Group supports people with complex needs such as homelessness, mental health issues or learning disabilities.
Environment
We are constantly improving our environmental performance and reducing the impact that our activities and services have on the environment.
To ensure compliance with current legislation and to set an example of good practice to the wider community, we have introduced a procedure for all waste to be disposed of appropriately. We recycle a wide range of waste including paper, glass, cans, batteries, IT equipment, plastic cups, cardboard, mobile phones, printer and toner cartridges. We also use recycled products where possible.
The firm's Corporate Social Responsibility Coordinator is Nikkisha Hindocha.