"Legally Green" - the new standard for law offices
March 4, 2014
Nixon Peabody is making 'Legally Green' the new standard for law offices
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Nixon Peabody's Green Team receiving the 2012 award for 'highest score[/caption]
Law firms are historically known for using a lot of paper. That's just the nature of their business: filing briefs, preparing closing documents, and documenting rights and obligations. But one law firm is looking to change that. Nixon Peabody LLP, an international law firm with a 170,000 square foot office in Boston, has been participating in the Challenge for Sustainability since 2010. Not only has Nixon Peabody managed to reduce its paper use 15% firm-wide by implementing best practices for office paper management, they have shown time and again that building tenants can achieve meaningful use reductions through focused sustainability initiatives.
Nixon Peabody most notably cemented their commitment to sustainability in 2007 when they appointed a Chief Sustainability Officer, the first ever in a law firm. Carolyn Kaplan, who oversees the firm’s Legally Green® initiative, has been actively involved in the Challenge for Sustainability, and also serves on ABC's Sustainability and Climate Change Steering Committee. Undeniably, Nixon Peabody’s success in promoting a culture of sustainability stems from commitment at the top, including management’s decision to employ a dedicated CSO, supported by a firm-wide Green Ops steering committee and local green teams.
With its largest office in Boston, the firm is invested in the city’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2020. A recipient of the 2012 Challenge for Sustainability ‘Highest Score' award, Nixon Peabody has dramatically reduced the environmental impact of its Boston office (18% drop in electric use since 2010). The firm continuously looks for opportunities to reduce its footprint, often in collaboration with its landlord Equity Office and with the support of A Better City.
In 2012, Nixon Peabody became the first law firm to participate in EDF’s Climate Corps, an innovative fellowship program aimed at building the business case for energy efficiency, through which they identified a number of energy saving opportunities. In 2013, ABC worked with Nixon Peabody to pilot the installation of sub-meters on all five floors of the firm’s Boston office to get a better idea of how much electricity they were using. The sub-meters enable the firm to track monthly consumption via meter reads and associated software. Last fall, following installation of the meters, the firm moved ahead with a large lighting retrofit project in Boston, estimated to save over 240,000 kWh annually. By providing actual, quantitative data of the energy savings over time and verifying the estimated ROI, the meters are helping the firm demonstrate the savings associated with the lighting retrofit and the value of future energy efficiency projects in Boston and around the firm.
Nixon Peabody’s firm-wide steering committee often uses the Boston office as a living laboratory. Employee pledges and contests, energy-efficient hand dryers, default double-sided printing, and modification of automated lighting system schedules are among the initiatives that have been piloted in Boston for possible firm-wide implementation.
Nixon Peabody has also made headlines on the IT front. Although a lot of companies have struggled to “green” their IT due to privacy and technology-related challenges, Nixon Peabody has repeatedly challenged itself to find solutions. The firm’s leadership was recognized in 2011 when Computerworld named it one of the top 12 green IT organizations. Initiatives include centralizing firm data centers, consolidating storage assets and virtualizing servers, replacing old storage arrays with new, high-efficiency systems, centralizing the firm’s telephone system and scanning environment, eliminating personal printers, and replacing computer monitors, desktops and laptops with Energy-Star rated models.
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Carolyn Kaplan, Chief Sustainability Officer[/caption]
Most importantly, Nixon Peabody has managed to set high sustainability goals and achieve marked results all while keeping their clients’ privacy and business interests their highest priority. In fact, Nixon Peabody’s culture of sustainability not only permeates its operations; sustainability is also a key component of the firm’s legal practice. Recognizing the relevance of sustainability to many of their clients, Nixon Peabody helps clients mitigate the associated risks, capitalize on opportunities, transform their operations, and create long-term value. By demonstrating sustainability leadership in its operations and its core business, Nixon Peabody has built a strong business case for sustainability that serves as a model for other businesses and organizations.
Carolyn Kaplan on the Challenge for Sustainability
Read more about Nixon Peabody's "Legally Green" initiative here.
