Responsible Business
At Saul Ewing, we believe that our impact on the world matters. At the heart of our drive to be a responsible business is our “People-First” philosophy, which means that we invest in human capital. We focus on building a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment; engaging with our communities; and working toward sustainability in our business operations. We conduct our business in line with a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those focused on good health and well-being; peace, justice and strong institutions; sustainable cities and communities; and reduced inequalities – all outlined below.
Our “People-First” philosophy means that our individual and collective well-being is among our highest priorities. Simply put, happy and engaged colleagues not only feel better – they are inspired to do their best and most creative work for our clients and for each other. In practice, this means that we devote significant resources to the professional and career development of every attorney and staff member, including internal coaching, mentoring and well-being programs. We invite feedback and change through firm-wide innovation challenges. We foster collaboration through our flexible hybrid work model. We were so proud to be named by Law360 in 2022 as ninth in the country among law firms for employee satisfaction and by U.S. News & World Report in 2024 as one of the best companies to work for among U.S. law firms. View more about our “People-First” philosophy in the video below.
Above Addresses These U.N. Sustainable Development Goals: Good Health and Well-being (#4) and Decent Work and Economic Growth (#8)
In essence, “People-First” is a service philosophy. It means that we have a responsibility to serve the communities in which we live and work. A proud participant in the Pro Bono Institute's Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, we work with community partners to help low-income individuals and families and nonprofit groups with legal issues ranging from civil rights and immigration/asylum to election laws and housing security. For example, many of our attorneys help Ukrainian immigrants with their immigration process and other legal issues.
Across the firm, we take part in community service projects, from tutoring first graders and providing meals for senior citizens and people fighting cancer to participating in charity races and collecting holiday gifts for Toys for Tots. We proudly support the good works of many nonprofit organizations through board service and charitable donations. In addition, we have made a firm-wide commitment to help battle food insecurity through annual contributions to nonprofit hunger relief organizations throughout our footprint. We underscored this promise through a hunger relief-focused keynote speaker at our 2022 All Attorney Retreat, making community engagement a core theme for our attendees.
Read more about our pro bono work
Above Addresses These U.N. Sustainable Development Goals: No Poverty (#1), Zero Hunger (#2), Good Health and Well-being (#3), Quality Education (#4), and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (#16)
We are committed to decreasing our carbon footprint. Some of our initiatives include rolling out QR Codes to replace printed business cards and marketing materials; distributing digital, reusable notepads to all attorneys and staff; migrating our firm-branded items to a digital store to eliminate over-purchasing and unnecessary shipping; adding composting to our coffee stations; and closely examining the size and energy efficiency of our office space. We are aided in this goal by our membership in the Law Firm Sustainability Network, whose mission is to foster knowledge sharing and recognize innovation among firms as they work to make their organizations more sustainable. We rely upon this network to benchmark our sustainability efforts and access sustainability resources.
Above Addresses These U.N. Sustainable Development Goals: Sustainable Cities and Communities (#11), Responsible Consumption and Production (#12), and Climate Action (#13)
We are dedicated to building diverse client service teams through the recruitment, retention and advancement of women, racially and ethnically diverse, and LGBTQ+ professionals. Our firm is a proud participant in the Diversity Lab's Mansfield Rule 7.0 and is a 2023 Mansfield Certified Plus firm, indicating that we considered at least 30 percent of women, racially and ethnically diverse, and LGBTQ+ lawyers for significant leadership roles, lateral openings, inclusion on pitch teams, and promotions, and we have achieved representation of at least 30 percent of these lawyers in a significant number of these categories. The firm was also named a Leader in LGBTQ+ Workplace Inclusion by the Human Rights Campaign in its 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index.
Read more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Above Addresses These U.N. Sustainable Development Goals: Gender Equality (#5) and Reduce Inequalities (#10)
